Issue with using Paypal Debit at Gas Pump

[ScotH]

I have been trying to use my PayPal Debit card at the gas pump on 4 separate occasions.  Each time it was declined.  Instead I had to pay the Cashier with cash.  I can use the card at other locations.

The last time I was able to use the PayPal Debit card at the pump was on Dec 14th.

I called the 800 number yesterday Jan 3rd to make sure that the card would work as I needed to put gas in the car.   They checked, saw a zero balance and that the card was linked to my bank account.  I was assured that the card would be able to go thru.  Tried it last night, and the card was declined again at the pump.  Last year when this issue occurred, they had to reset something on their end to fix it.

Today I called the again, was told that the pump is trying to do a $1 transaction.  Since I have a Zero balance, was advised I couldn't use the card at the pump, but would need to attempt the transaction with the Cashier instead or I would need to keep a min of $30 in the account.

I used to use Balance Manager, but that was discontinued Jan 1st, 2018.  This is another reason for them to bring it back.

[Mjusino]

Since it seems a lot of people are having the same issues, including me. Will this be resolved? Or are we never to use this card for gas. Smh.

[ScotH · Accepted solution]

I shoud have replied sooner, my card started working at the pump about 3 months after it had stopped working.

I believe I know what had caused it.  I had order a product on line that was back ordered.  The company that I had ordered the product from had issued a pending charge to my paypal account.  The pending charge didn't automatically pull funds from my bank account. My paypal account didn't show a negative balance, but because of the pending charge paypal decided it was a negative balance and refused purchases from the pump. The company then tried to charge my card again when they had the product in stock and was denied due to the pending charge.  During this time I wasn't able to use the card for purchases at the pump, but could still make purchases at McDonalds.  As a test, I went into the gas station and was able to use the card to purchase gas.  During this time that the card wasn't working at the pump, I would occasionally try the card, but it still wasn't working.  I even received a replacement card - incase it was a issue with the card - still didn't work.

About 3 months after this issue started, the pending charge was removed/timed out on my account and the next time I tried it at the pump it worked.

If you are having issues at the pump, check for pending charges and have the company that issued it, remove the charge from your account.

[ripj]

what a joke of an accepted solution.. almost all charges are pending. this is old hat issue. just go in the place and pay. dont gotta get skimmers