[UPDATE] Please see the updated posting: Ready to clear the air on the 'pay-at-the-pump' hold?
For many of you … yes, it has. This is an update on the information in the blog: "You're gonna hold 'what' because I pumped gas?" The "pump thing" has caused you to question your confidence in the credit union, the reliability of staff, and the type of product you use. It has made you ask questions like, "Does anyone but me think this is crazy? Why am I only finding out about this now? What are you people doing about it? How can this happen given what is going on in the economy?
For over a week now, your credit union staff has been pumping steam. Management has been steaming about the fact that we were not properly notified of this change through our processing partners. Staff has been steaming its brain power to find a workable solution as well as figure out how in the world to communicate this issue in a clear and concise manner.
Finally after almost two weeks of venting to every top-ranking official we know, the steam has been let out of the pump. This morning management was informed that the mandatory change imposed by MasterCard was, in fact, erroneously misinterpreted by its processing partners. This has made us look bad in your eyes and we know it.
Some of you thought it was ridiculous that it took us 10 days to let you know. Well, management agrees. The complexity of the issue, the number of moving parts affecting what was happening, the research, and the number of people involved made it practically impossible to communicate with any clarity any sooner. But, what you should know is that the fine folks in the Electronic Services and Sales & Service departments never stopped working for you. It is because of their diligence and never-lose-steam attitude that the interpretation error was discovered and now can be resolved. There are several parts of the resolution:
- Until the changes can be input by our processing partners, the credit union will manually release holds four times a day on the 'pay-at-the-pump' holds. This will mean that only a very, very few transactions could be affected.
- Staff through the Contact Center via secure on-line chat, or via phone 843-797-8300 will refund fees assessed because of these holds. The Contact Center will also process refund requests made via secure email. For secure email, either log into iTeller and use the email feature, or from the home page at scfederal.org, click Contact Us (top right), then scroll down to the secure form and provide the information requested. The credit union did not implement this change, and will not stand to accept one bit of profit at its members' expense.
- At some point in time in the very near future, the correct programming process will be implemented. For all intents and purposes, it will restore the effect these transactions have on your account as they did prior to June 16, 2009. In the meantime, the credit union will be following steps 1 and 2 as outlined above.
To those of you who have stuck by your credit union, thank you for your confidence and patience. We hope we have made you proud to know that your credit union never lost steam on this issue and its staff fought to resolve it for your benefit and convenience.
Until my regular weekly post… you can always talk back with Troy.
So are we still getting a $75 hold or are we working to resolve that problem?
This sounds more like the bank I put my trust in. Thank you for your diligence.
[note: post edited by administrator due to innappropriate content]
There is a question as to whether we will be charged the $75.00 hold anyway. Well, Will we???? and why is MasterCard charging us this OUTRAGEOUS fee in the first place.
Glad you are on top of it, but who do I see so I can charge them with criminal fraud and robbery, and who can we sue for 75 billion in the MasterCard family so they can feel the same pain they are putting us through.
This is absolute disrespect on the part of mastercard: (caps left off for a reason of disrespect).
I am a driver by profession and I use between 1 – 3 tanks of gas per day. If I get stuck with a charge for each time I fill up I am going to have a hard time. I can’t do the job I do under these circumstances…
Troy I have trouble comprehending what the reasons for the delay were. You mentioned complexity, moving parts, hard working people. Was that before or after the 10 day delay in alerting the members? The way I see it, the hard working people had 10 days to address this change before most member found out about it. At the end of the 10 days we get an email telling us about the retroactive $75 hold.
It wasn’t until the past 3 days where the members had their say that someone took the initiative to discover that it was all an error.
Now, in order to get reimbursed for the fees imposed, the members will have to call to initiate the process. Shouldn’t the credit union do this automatically? They must know which members were charged the fee and why.
The way I interpreted this is that SCFCU was not notified prior to that MasterCard was going to hold the $75 and when it started happening they were not told why & that is why they could not tell you.
Second, yes, at this time they will still hold $75 until they can implement a programming process that will prevent this from happening.
Thank you SCFCU for being diligent in your efforts to fix this situation for us. Some banks would have just accepted the change, notified costumers of it & moved on. I’m glad you chose otherwise.
Bill… I am sorry that I have been able to relay this complex issue to you satisfactorily. Realistically, until we knew exactly what was happening and why it was happening, we didn’t know what to communicate. There was a lot of coordination with MasterCard representatives and our processing partners that had to happen first.
Once we received information, we verified its accuracy before communicating what was happening.
That was another factor which contributed to the delay in communication.
Also, there are a number of NSF/Overdraft fees associated with gas transactions for members that have nothing to do with the ‘hold’ issue. Unfortunately, that compounds the possibility of writing a program to handle refunds automatically.
I understand you may not agree with what has happened, or how it was managed … for that I am sorry.
Thank you for taking the time to ask the hard questions and posting your feedback.
yeah lets blame everyone and the moving parts. this is absolutely a bunch of BS. 10 days for us the member to find out. get someone who can read and interpret faster and stop blaming management or the top brass. what a joke this credit union is. I gotta find me another institution.
Is the hold going to return to $1 after the “correct programming process is implemented”? or will it remain at $75? This update was unclear as to what the misinterpretation was.
Chill out. Use another card until fixed. Next the CU should drop MC and get a Visa debit card.
Chris seems a bit too hostile to me, I don’t know about anyone else. I don’t think he understands the fact that the $75 hold was not placed by the Credit Union and its employees.
SCFCU did a good job taking the time to find the best method and wording to use to communicate the change to its members. I’m sure they felt they could resolve it within a handful of days, but once they found out they couldn’t then they felt the need to communicate the change to the members.
If Chris feels he needs to drop SCFCU because of the actions of a third party vendor then I’m so sorry for him. He will missing out on all the wonderful benefits that come with being a member of SCFCU.
There really is no need to be rude, condensending, or just a plain jerk. Does that resolve anythin?? No!
Forgot to mention… I don’t think some people realize that whatever one credit card company does, the rest seem to follow suit. Visa is going to have the same, if not similar, requlations.
R u people stupid or what. I’m talking about the ones that have written in after Troy explained the process (very well)! Get a grip. He explained the process in full. You will still have a hold on your credit/debit card for $75.00, they, the credit union, will look four times a day,to make sure it is taken off. The people that are still complaining probably voted for Obama.
I think SCFCU has handled this situation to the best of their ability. Instead of communicating the WRONG information, they waited to get the facts before issuing a statement. I am glad to say I am apart of a CU that truly works for it’s members. I doubt any other institution that uses mastercard debit cards is working as dilligently as SCFCU to maintain member satisfaction. I don’t know of another financial institution offering to “right the wrong” by refunding NSF fee’s. I talked to a friend today who got a $75 hold on their account, and had no idea why it was there- their institution didn’t even tell their “customers” about what was happening!!
There is no easy way to handle a situation like this, and switching to VISA is not going to be the answer nor an alternative solution. VISA will be doing the same eventually. I applaud the credit union for their efforts and I feel confident in my families future to continue to do business where we are valued. Thanks SCFCU!! Truly Life Simplified!!!
Why are they(MC) allowed to put a hold on money that doesn’t belong to them and why do you the bank allow this hold on our funds. That is a huge jump from $1.00 to $75.00. Who has that kind of money this day and time to not be able to use it.
Why didn’t we (the members) get a vote on this? I am STRONGLY AGAINST THIS. I VETO this. Who else are you going to put a hold on our funds for?
Liz
I am STILL complaining and I DID NOT vote for OBAMA
Why is MC allowed to do this without a “vote” from their users like you asked… Because we all sign the Terms and Conditions when we use their cards. We accepted any potential changes when we accepted use of the cards. Accept change or don’t use plastics. Plain and simple.
Troy thanks for the response, I’m not so concerned about the actions from Mastercard and the hold, its not unprecedented. A search on the web shows that Visa went through this last fall and they fixed it. Mastercard warned then that they would be doing something similar this Summer (check consumers union).
What bothers me is the time it took to alert members and to impose a fee for something the members had no idea was happening. I appreciate the CU refunding the NSF fees, that’s a smart business decision following a stupid one.
As for your description of the reasoning for the delay, you came across like Kramer trying to fire Raquel Welch: “Well, it seems that due to the vagaries of the production parameters of this fragmenting of the audience to the cable television, carnivals, water parks…”. You said many words but no substance. If you have to get technical, go ahead, we can handle it.
So, you’re so concerned and have been working so hard to make everything right. Let’s see, who makes money from an overcharge? Who makes money from the money put on hold? Who has all the money yet does no work for the money? Oh, that’s right, that would be the bank for all three questions. Banks only exist because we trust you. Well, sir, my trust is wearing very thin.
it doesn’t matter who u vote for master card will still put the hold on.
Credit card companies are always a rip off, even when it’s your own money you are using (such as in Debit card cases).
Monday June 29th.
My wife and I stopped in at SCFCU 12th St. in Columbia to talk about the problem.
We decided to go ahead and sign up for the Platinum VISA which means you don’t have to manually choose the credit option every time you go to a pump.
You still get the points. You can also pay this from your online account. I’m not saying you need to do this. But the folks were very pleasant and helpful.
I think SCFCU may have been a bit blindsided by MasterCard.
I am very happy to know that my bank resolve my unauthorized money hold…My problem is solve, I will trust my SCFCU but i will still keep my eyes open, cuz the bank or pump mistake can be my lost…
Thanks SCFCU
I find it extraordinary that a financial institution would go to so much effort to protect its members. Thank you; I guess there is more to being a ‘Credit Union’, as opposed to being a Bank, than just a name. Thanks to all for having the deligence (and, perhaps, financial courage) to do the right thing.
Thanks SCFCU for doing the right thing. That is why I am a loyal CUer rather than a bank user. You may not be perfect but you are a whole lot better than any bank I have dealt with.
Thank you for resolving this issue! It is good to know that their is a bank that really takes care of their customers/members and I’m happy that bank is my bank. Great job SCFCU!!! Your members are very grateful for your hard work and dedication.
I notice that Troy did not answer the question about what the hold level will be when they “fix” their programming. So Troy what is the answer?
Sounds confusing to many, however I am sure that most folks probably think this was a Credit Union decision, and not the Mastercard Corp decision to increase the hold. Ultimately it would file a larger balance, earn more interest, and benefit the Credit Card Corp staff. Thank you SC Federal for going up and above to help us all. BTW I’m sending more folks to your direction due to other Financial Institutions are increasing charges that many simply can’t afford now.
People are amazing these days! So the Credit Union made a mistake, they admitted it. They are doing everything they can to correct and rectify any fees and remedy the situation moving forward. Sure, I was upset about the announcement when I read it. But guess what – if you don’t want a hold on your account, pay for your gas with debit (which clears almost instantly) or even better pay with cash and problem solved. So stop all of your complaining!
I’m glad that SCFCU cares enough to send a candid and thought out communication about what is going on behind the scences. I have never dealt with any other bank that would go to the lengths that SCFCU has, and they do it with a personal touch.
All of you people that think the bank, master card, and the rest of the world are out to get you – I have some advice … just revert to stashing your money under the mattress and paying for everything with cash. No one is forcing you to use your Master Card at the pump, or to use it at all! You’ll soon realize how much you depend on the convenience of credit/debit cards (while having to go inside the gas station and stand in line to pay with cash).
To the SCFCU team – we know you aren’t perfect, but who is? Keep up the good work and keep fighting for the best for your customers! You guys are doing a good job!
Keep in mind that MC will not hold back any additional funds when you use the card as a pin based transaction.
I am trying to figure out how a DEBIT card that comes straight out of my account that is not “really” a credit card can hold $75.00 of my hard earned money. I have to fill up twice a week because I live an hour away from my office. This will greatly affect me. I could understand “mastercard” being allowed to “HOLD” whatever they want on a real CREDIT CARD but this is really a DEBIT card that comes from my money not theirs.
Jerry, you evidently speak more than you read, because if you had read all of the information, you would have seen that all of your complaints had no bearing: 1. Who makes money from an overcharge? Answer: Refunds are being given on fees incurred by the hold; 2. Who makes money from the money put on hold? Answer: no one, the money is still in your account, but not accessable; 3. Who has all the money yet does no work for the money? Answer: the money is in your account; you earn dividends on it, and the CU works to help you get the best return on your money. I guess that’s why we were given two eyes and only one mouth…Thanks SC Fed for working so diligently for your members and looking out for us.
I have been a SCFCU member for about 30 years. The credit union has always looked out for my wellfare and continues to do so. You have my upmost confidence and trust.
SCFCU, Thank you for your immediate attention,listening and caring enough to be our voice and figuring out alternatives to alleviate the holds from our accounts. I’m sure its not as easy as picking up the phone and calling MC and telling them you won’t stand for the “hold” issue. I, for one, am patient and appreciate you working behind the scenes to make this as less difficult as possible. Keep up the good work, despite the rudeness and anger others possess.
This is nothing new. Some of the gas stations in the area were already charging $75 for credit (or signature/no PIN used) debit card transactions. I noticed this, asked both SCFCU and the other ‘regular’ bank I do business with about it years ago, got the answers that Troy outlined in his response, and then governed myself accordingly. Thats all it takes, no more no less. There will always be issues and/or fees for certain actions, etc…At least SCFCU had the decency to a) find out all the details before telling us what was going on (not taking a ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ approach) and b) explain what could be done. I’ve found that using your PIN will make the transaction shortens the timeframe it is holding a little bit or I could just go inside and tell the attendant how much I want to pay, which eliminates the hold altogether. We as consumers need to be a little more prudent, proactive and willing to take responsibity for our own money. Do not expect that any bank, credit union, or credit card company will make it so that we can act with no recourse or responsibity…Know where your money is and proceed appropriately.
We could live in a country where everything is done for us, then some of those who feel it is up to others to manage their money wouldn’t have to worry about having the freedom to manage their own. Truthfully, no law is requiring the credit union to proactively release these holds.
I think ya’ll have done a great job of getting this problem resolved and in a timely fashion. I have been a loyal member since I was 15, I am know 45. I really appreciate my bank, I just wish they felt the same about me!
Thanks,
P.S.