We go get gas tonight. We get $50 and put in on our Paypal debit card. They did a pre-authorization because when I got home I checked my PP account and it was zero. I have backup funding from my bank so $50 in gas was taken out of my bank and $85 was taken out of PP to be put on hold. Here's what I read on another site about this:
Many places that take credit cards do a pre-auth, to see if the card is good. For example. You go to a gas station to put $20 in your tank. You have $60 in your checking account. That station does a $90 "pre-auth" when you swipe your card. Which means that unlike a credit card, that $90 has now been removed from your account.
On a credit card, it doesn't affect your immediate balance, and on a $90 pre-auth with a $60 balance, your card will be declined. Not so with a debit card. The withdrawal is immediate. The pre-auth will eventually drop off after a week or so, but in the meantime, you've got overdraft fees. And if you don't happen to check your balance every day, you may not ever know about it until you do check it, or you get a notice from the bank.
From now on I'll go to the freaking ATM and draw the cash out before I let them screw up my accounts.
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