Pain at the Pump: High Credit Card 'Holding Fees' at Pilot Gas Stations Deemed Excessive

OAK CREEK -- The owners of Pilot gas stations are facing numerous lawsuits from people in several states, claiming that their "holding fees" are excessive.

According to a CBS 58 report, an Oak Creek motorist wash shocked when the Pilot on Ryan Rd. temporarily charged her $150 on her gas purchase of $30.

The Oak Creek motorist told CBS-58 that at first, she thought her bank account had been hacked, but in reality, her money had been placed on hold, after a $30 gas purchase at the Pilot convenience store off Ryan Road.

In many cases, customers are reporting that the high "holding fees" are causing checking accounts to overdraft or become frozen. Officials say the reasons for the high holding fees are to protect the business.

"When consumers use a debit card, and the final purchase is unknown, oftentimes there is a hold put on their card to pay for the maximum amount of that transaction," says National Association of Convenience Store's Spokesperson Jeff Lenard in the CBS 58 report. "That happens at the gas pump, where you don't know if the transaction will be 30 gallons, 50 gallons, or 3 gallons. There's a hold placed on there to pay for the biggest fill up possible."

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