9 Investigates: How You Pay At The Pump Can Have Effect On Bank Account

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- As if a fill-up weren't enough of a drain on your wallet, consider the experience of Mike Wineland.

Wineland has a PayPal debit card and had $80 in the account -- more than enough, he thought, to cover a $50 gas purchase.

"So I put my debit card in and got $50 worth of fuel, and then found out that they charged me $50 and put an $80 hold on it," he said.

Not only was Wineland seeing red, so was his account, which went deep in the hole.

What happened is called pre-authorization, but it's actually your bank that places the hold, not the gas station. They figure when you pay before you pump there's no way to know how much you're going to buy. So the bank puts extra funds in reserve -- just to be safe.

"They want to make sure you have enough money in your account, so they will immediately put a hold of $50, $80, $100 on your account, and that money is encumbered at that moment,” said Bill Cloud, a consumer economics expert.

Tony Plath, a University of North Carolina at Charlotte economist, said it’s "probably not a good idea to use a debit card at a gas station."

Plath said the practice isn't new and it applies to both debit and credit cards. However, more consumers are getting zinged by it because they're on the brink financially and because the money can stay in reserve for a day, or maybe even three.

“The amount of money that it costs to buy gas today is much higher, which leads people to be caught by that preauthorization when they're operating a credit card very close to their credit limit. That's issue No. 1, and the second issue is more people are charging gas because they don't have the money to pay cash,” Plath said.

And of course if you use a debit card, the money that's put on hold could be your day-to-day spending money like it was for Wineland.

He said if gas stations can warn you about smoking and static electricity, they should warn about this too. But he learned his lesson the hard way.

"I'm just not going to use my debit card anymore to get any fuel purchases," he said.

Funds are put on hold at other places too. If you use a debit card when you check in at a hotel, the hotel will preauthorize a higher charge because they don’t know if you’ll use the mini-bar or order movies. Because the hold is tied to your actual money, it could leave you without access to your own cash.

Therefore, it’s best not to pay with a debit card at the gas pump or at hotels or at a restaurant or for Internet purchases – anywhere someone could pre-authorize more or tamper with the money you need for day-to-day expenses. Use a credit card instead.