Credit cards at French petrol stations (thread now closed)

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Blackal said:
What's the prob with Caxton?

(I have four business visa cards with them, which they explain to me - they are changing to one mastercard - not sure how that can ever work. - i suspect I will have to just remove the funds and close them)

Al
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Last year I used it to buy petrol. Their practise is to pre-authorise amounts on their card to cover their possible liability. So each time I filled the bike, they preauthorised the card with their possible liability...it was usually 140/150 euros, ie a car full....they don't know you are on a bike and only using 20 or 30. If it is pre-authorised it is effectively frozen until the transaction clears, and this in my case took too long..for some after I got back...I ended up with over a thousand euros on the card, none of it available for use for the rest of the month. An ordinary credit card is better, or a choice of them, as long as you use one that doesn't charge for non sterling transactions.
 
Those pre-loaded cards .......... lottery at the pumps.
Mastercard, Visa debit card .......... never had a problem, except once at a Mastercard-only peage.
 
alan29 said:
Those pre-loaded cards .......... lottery at the pumps.
Mastercard, Visa debit card .......... never had a problem, except once at a Mastercard-only peage.
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And that gets close to what might be the problem.

On both the Visa and Mastercard schemes there are differing levels of both debit and credit card products. Most allow off-line transactions (many pumps do not do real time authorisation). Some are credit policy limited and require online authorisation for all transactions. This can apply to debit, credit and many pre-paid currency cards depending on the type of product the bank has chosen to link to the account.

For example, my 17 YO lad's debit card didn't work in many places in France as he has a youth account which is credit limited.

One of the indicators of such a card used to be that the large 15/16 digit PAN number was not raised but just printed onto the card. Not sure if that's the case any more.

Just a thought.......
 
The lottery with Caxton and presumably all pre-loaded cash cards - and some regular debit / credit cards, with per-transaction limits - is that the automatic pump operator puts through what might be called a 'reserve' debit of up to say EUR 100, irrespective that you only buy say EUR 25 worth of motion lotion. The simple problems are then:

1. You might not have EUR 100 credit available on your Caxton card, so the transaction will be refused. That would be the same if you exceeded your bank balance or credit card's spending limit, as Gonzo's post illustrates

2. Caxton might not know for say 24 hours that you only spent 25 euro out of the 100 reserved, so they cannot allow you to spend the 75 euro difference. Why? Because Caxton does not know if it is real or not.

The easiest way is to:

1. Avoid, if possible, automatic pumps.... If you are terrified

2. Arm yourself with a free, no charge for foreign transactions, credit card; staying within your credit limit, obviously. I have two; if am unfortunate enough to lose one, I am not stuck.

3. Get a very easy to load, multi-currency card from someone like Revolut and top-up at will.
 
gerarddwatts said:
Caxton is a waste of time if you don't understand its limitations...
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Understand them and it's very good

gerarddwatts said:
....and as soon as the balance is gone I'll shred it.
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Ask Caxton to transfer the balance back to your funding account. I think you can do this anytime and maybe via the app. Throw card away.
 
Wapping said:
The lottery with Caxton and presumably all pre-loaded cash cards - and some regular debit / credit cards, with per-transaction limits - is that the automatic pump operator puts through what might be called a 'reserve' debit of up to say EUR 100, irrespective that you only buy say EUR 25 worth of motion lotion. The simple problems are then:

1. You might not have EUR 100 credit available on your Caxton card, so the transaction will be refused. That would be the same if you exceeded your bank balance or credit card's spending limit, as Gonzo's post illustrates

2. Caxton might not know for say 24 hours that you only spent 25 euro out of the 100 reserved, so they cannot allow you to spend the 75 euro difference. Why? Because Caxton does not know if it is real or not.

The easiest way is to:

1. Avoid, if possible, automatic pumps.... If you are terrified

2. Arm yourself with a free, no charge for foreign transactions, credit card; staying within your credit limit, obviously. I have two; if am unfortunate enough to lose one, I am not stuck.

3. Get a very easy to load, multi-currency card from someone like Revolut and top-up at will.
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All true...the only bit I would argue is the 24 hr 'clearance' from Caxton to release the 'block'....in my case they all took days, and some over a week. Fine, as long as you know.

Revolut looks interesting...I'll look into it.
 
Thanx Richard

Wapping said:
1. Avoid, if possible, automatic pumps.... If you are terrified

I'm not terrified of them but it can be a problem trying to find a manned one.

2. Arm yourself with a free, no charge for foreign transactions, credit card; staying within your credit limit, obviously. I have two; if am unfortunate enough to lose one, I am not stuck.

I have 2. I'm always within my credit limit.

3. Get a very easy to load, multi-currency card from someone like Revolut and top-up at will.

These, however, do terrify me. :D
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As I've posted already I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. I'll just make sure that whenever I travel to France I'll go with a biker mate who's credit card will definitely work at the pumps.
What are you doing in July? :augie
 
One card I will not be relying on is Revolut.
most of the time the app will not open on my iPhone, even after a reinstall.
 
I have two bank cards (Debit) and two Credit Cards with a Mix of Visa and MasterCard.

I tend to use a Halifax MasterCard all of the time due to low costs, cannot remember the last time I had a problem with it, or if I ever have, but with several cards I feel reasonably comfortable one will work - and always have some cash handy...

...not needed it, but last year in France, a French driver had a card problem, I had to put some fuel in his car in exchange for cash.

We use automated pumps a lot, as often in the sticks it is all you find.
 
Never had any issues, but always made sure there was plenty of money in the account, if you are on a debit card and use your overdraft it could be an issue, it would be known no doubt to the banking world and being overdrawn is an offence in France.
Just a thought !!
 
Mongolian Explorer said:
.... if you are on a debit card and use your overdraft it could be an issue, it would be known no doubt to the banking world and being overdrawn is an offence in France.
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I hardly think the French legal system has a telepathic - or indeed any - direct or indirect contact with the overdrawn state of my bank account and most certainly not via the automatic petrol pump at St Gulp du Lost.
 
gerarddwatts said:
Look out for the new Supercard in June....look up the website to register now....I had one of the pilot cards and it worked very well. https://www.travelex.co.uk/services/supercard
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gerarddwatts said:
Revolut looks interesting...I'll look into it.
Click to expand...

I missed the beta run of the Travelex Supercard but, on the face of it at least, the Revolut card (which I do have) looks remarkably similar in that you can link it to multiple debit cards. I see that you used to be able to link the Supercard to a credit card, with cash withdrawals appearing as purchases (a neat trick) but this little wheeze has apparently been stopped.

Despite a couple of teething errors, my Revolut card and its associated app has worked very well, easier in may ways than my Caxton card.
 
Wapping said:
The lottery with Caxton and presumably all pre-loaded cash cards - and some regular debit / credit cards, with per-transaction limits - is that the automatic pump operator puts through what might be called a 'reserve' debit of up to say EUR 100, irrespective that you only buy say EUR 25 worth of motion lotion. The simple problems are then:

1. You might not have EUR 100 credit available on your Caxton card, so the transaction will be refused. That would be the same if you exceeded your bank balance or credit card's spending limit, as Gonzo's post illustrates

2. Caxton might not know for say 24 hours that you only spent 25 euro out of the 100 reserved, so they cannot allow you to spend the 75 euro difference. Why? Because Caxton does not know if it is real or not.

The easiest way is to:

1. Avoid, if possible, automatic pumps.... If you are terrified

2. Arm yourself with a free, no charge for foreign transactions, credit card; staying within your credit limit, obviously. I have two; if am unfortunate enough to lose one, I am not stuck.

3. Get a very easy to load, multi-currency card from someone like Revolut and top-up at will.
Click to expand...

4. Carry some Euro's, so if all else fails you can prevail on your biker mates or even a total stranger to stick the fuel on their card in exchange for some readies.
 
My Travlex card has worked 100% all week . Not tried my Revolut


Sent from my iPhone using Tosserbollockery
 
bobsnew said:
Does it work in unmanned petrol stations ?
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Nearly all cards work in nearly all (even unmanned) petrol stations

There are often problems in stations with the DATS sign with prepaid cards

Dunno why.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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