About 3 months ago I had an eye opener about using debit cards and pre-payed visa cards at gas stations on the road. I pre-payed almost $1000 on Visa “gift” cards with the intent of having every member of my family with at least one a pocket or purse while on the road. Major problems!! As some examples. I purchased $68 of diesel half way from Tulsa OK to OKC and was charged $100 on my debit card with out knowing this had happened at the time. Also on the same trip we purchased $56 in diesel on a Visa pre-pay card and were charged $75 for the fuel in Amarillo Texas!! This happened several more times with out my knowing it at the time!! I was refunded the money on all the cards after a few days but was in a world of hurt when all my cards were maxed out with no warning while on the road. Apparently I was charged a “minimum" amount for using these cards when I swiped them at the pump, it would have been nice to know this was apparently standard practice now. My bank was so sorry they had not told me about this ahead of time,,,,,we changed banks! If I had not had a cash reserve we would have been stuck at Cline’s Corners NM for quite a while on the way to Taos NM. I recently had the same problem with a Bank of Oklahoma, American Express-Debit card, I purchased $76 in diesel at the OKC to Tulsa half way point and was charged $100 before the money was refunded a few days later. Check with you bank or card company, ask about these issues before you travel.
