To: UK Financial Ombudsman Service
Force Credit Card Companies to Limit Pay-at-Pump Reserve Amounts and Reversal Period
Motorists paying for fuel at many self-service pumps face having up to £120 on their debit or credit card temporarily 'reserved' while they fill up, to make sure they can afford the petrol or diesel.
While people will naturally spend some of that £100, many report waiting days for the unspent portion to be returned, which could leave them struggling to pay for bills in the meantime.
In some cases, the reserved amount is taken twice, meaning that card balances are reduced by £240 and this can take up to seven days to be refunded.
Phone calls and a formal complaint were made to Capital One whose Chief Services Officer, Rob Harding refused to uphold the complaint even though he confirmed that
* two amounts were taken totalling £240
* one of these amounts was the reversal back to Tesco
* this was in fact a credit back to the account
* they were not prepared to make a simple coding change to indicate this credit
* inconvenience could have been up to seven days
The response (see links) contained irrelevant statements:
"We appreciate your concern that your account could've gone over the limit but this wasn't the case as your available to spend amount was 673.49 as at the time of this transaction" - this is irrelevant to the point I am making as a customer could well be within their limit at any time.
"the hold was for a short space of time" - again irrelevant, especially when you admit that "it can take up to seven days for the remaining amount to be released to your available credit to spend...this is how long merchants have to claim the funds and until then the transaction will show as pending." So the merchant takes priority over your customers.
Taking the Capital One complaint to the Financial Ombudsman resulted in them upholding the credit card companies right to do this. The Financial Ombudsman investigator stated "While I may not comment on everything raised, I’ve thoroughly read and considered all the evidence and arguments from both sides. My outcome focuses on the relevant key issues, and on what I consider fair and reasonable in all the circumstances of the case."
The Investigator completely ignored the fact that two amounts were reserved and that funds could be reserved for up to seven days which is not fair and reasonable as the onus is then on the customer to contact the card issuer and/or the Financial Ombudsman. Once again a supposedly independent body takes the side of financial institutions.
Links
Martin Lewis MSE https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/07/changes-to-pay-at-pump-up-to-p100-withheld-from-customers-accoun/
Capital One Response https://mega.nz/file/o5UzBCpD#KMy3C0SDu7m4sjnjsCFNoxRkWy2EFN3CTerlox5YtnU
Capital One Complaint FOS Decision https://mega.nz/file/RkEC1DSY#x-MqUCUs67d6k_5IJQJUE5TMgX8sK1YPm3cWVzmHbvI
Capital One Team https://www.capitalone.co.uk/aboutus/our-team
While people will naturally spend some of that £100, many report waiting days for the unspent portion to be returned, which could leave them struggling to pay for bills in the meantime.
In some cases, the reserved amount is taken twice, meaning that card balances are reduced by £240 and this can take up to seven days to be refunded.
Phone calls and a formal complaint were made to Capital One whose Chief Services Officer, Rob Harding refused to uphold the complaint even though he confirmed that
* two amounts were taken totalling £240
* one of these amounts was the reversal back to Tesco
* this was in fact a credit back to the account
* they were not prepared to make a simple coding change to indicate this credit
* inconvenience could have been up to seven days
The response (see links) contained irrelevant statements:
"We appreciate your concern that your account could've gone over the limit but this wasn't the case as your available to spend amount was 673.49 as at the time of this transaction" - this is irrelevant to the point I am making as a customer could well be within their limit at any time.
"the hold was for a short space of time" - again irrelevant, especially when you admit that "it can take up to seven days for the remaining amount to be released to your available credit to spend...this is how long merchants have to claim the funds and until then the transaction will show as pending." So the merchant takes priority over your customers.
Taking the Capital One complaint to the Financial Ombudsman resulted in them upholding the credit card companies right to do this. The Financial Ombudsman investigator stated "While I may not comment on everything raised, I’ve thoroughly read and considered all the evidence and arguments from both sides. My outcome focuses on the relevant key issues, and on what I consider fair and reasonable in all the circumstances of the case."
The Investigator completely ignored the fact that two amounts were reserved and that funds could be reserved for up to seven days which is not fair and reasonable as the onus is then on the customer to contact the card issuer and/or the Financial Ombudsman. Once again a supposedly independent body takes the side of financial institutions.
Links
Martin Lewis MSE https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/07/changes-to-pay-at-pump-up-to-p100-withheld-from-customers-accoun/
Capital One Response https://mega.nz/file/o5UzBCpD#KMy3C0SDu7m4sjnjsCFNoxRkWy2EFN3CTerlox5YtnU
Capital One Complaint FOS Decision https://mega.nz/file/RkEC1DSY#x-MqUCUs67d6k_5IJQJUE5TMgX8sK1YPm3cWVzmHbvI
Capital One Team https://www.capitalone.co.uk/aboutus/our-team
Why is this important?
The current regulation is not fair and reasonable as the onus is then on the customer to have to raise the issue with the card issuer and/or then complain to the Financial Ombudsman. Once again a supposedly independent body takes the side of financial institutions.
