Attention Citizens Trust Bank VISA® Credit Card accountholders:

Effective Saturday, August 20, 2022, 5AM, CT, all VISA® credit card transactions received from Automated Fuel Dispensers [AFD] are subject to up to $175 “status check” (or hold) on the credit card which is later followed by clearing the transaction for cardholder posting.

Please note: The dollar amounts held for fuel transactions have been dictated by VISA® and not modified by Citizens Trust Bank your card issuer.

 

The new controls for AFD authorizations (for VISA® transactions ONLY) will be applied and function as follows:

Non-Fleet Cards: The AFD controls for non-fleet cards are deployed depending on the type of terminal used by the merchant. The dollar amounts held for fuel transactions for non-fleet cards are dictated by Visa and are not modified by Citizens Trust Bank, your credit card issuer.

The newly enforced AFD Authorization process will be as follows:

1. Cardholder goes to fuel merchant and will ‘pay at the pump’.

2. The Citizens Trust Bank Credit Card processor will receive the AFD $1 status check and respond with either an approval or decline.

3. The Citizens Trust Bank Credit Card processor will check the cardholder’s account for availability and hold against the cardholders Available Credit based on the terminal type or the card/account type.

• If the terminal used by the merchant is magstripe or 8-contactless non-chip capability, VISA® provides that $100.00 will be held against the cardholder’s Available Credit until the clearing transaction is received.
• If the terminal used by the merchant is a chip-capable terminal (contact or contactless), VISA® provides that $175.00 will be held against the cardholder Available Credit until the clearing transaction is received.
• Depending on the merchant terminal used in the transaction, non-fleet transactions will have either $100.00 or $175.00 held, with an approval or decline issued accordingly.
• Fleet transactions will have amounts held based on the terminal type or based on an authorization parameter set by the issuer to hold between $150.00 (min) and $350.00 (max) for each fuel transaction.
• If BOTH a merchant and an issuer support partial approval, a partial dollar amount ($99.99 instead of $100.00) could be approved. In this case, the authorization would be approved but only for the cardholder’s Available Credit amount at the time of the authorization.

NOTE: The partial approval may not be for the full amount of the requested purchase, and the AFD transaction will stop at the approved or a lesser fuel purchase amount.

4. The Citizens Trust Bank Credit Card processor will receive authorization advice for the actual amount of the fuel transaction. The actual amount is then held against the cardholder Available Credit and the static, pre-transaction amount ($100.00 or another amount determined by the issuer) will be released in favor of the actual amount pumped per the ‘authorization advice’ received.

5. Finally, a clearing transaction will be received for posting. The authorization will be matched, and the held amount of the authorization will be released from the Available Credit once the final dollar amount of the transaction posts to the account and the cardholder’s Total New Balance is updated.

 

What is an Automated Fuel Dispenser [AFD]?
An automated fuel dispenser (or AFD) allows customers to pay for their gas and pump it themselves. When a customer swipes a credit card at a gas pump that is equipped with an AFD, an authorization request goes out to that customer’s bank.

At this point, the customer will be prompted to enter cardholder verification information. This might be a PIN or a ZIP code.

If the authorization goes through, the customer can select their fuel grade and pump their gas without the help of an attendant. Later, after the customer has completed their transaction, billing information is transmitted, and the customer’s account is billed. Customers also have the option to pay with cash or a debit card.