Along Interstate-75 driving guide
Canadian Credit Cards may not be welcome at US Gas Pumps
   

 

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Most US gas stations will not accept non-USA credit cards (i.e., Visa and Mastercards issued in other countries) for gas purchases at their gas pumps    . . .   

   . . .    if you do not have a US credit card billing address with a 5 digit US zip code - you cannot start pumping.

Instead, you must go inside the gas station store and either, surrender your card (not a good idea in these days of "identity theft" - it may also invalidate your Bank credit card agreement) or, pre-authorize a specific dollar amount to be pumped.

This embargo represents a particular problem to the hundreds of thousands of Canadian snowbirds traveling to Florida each winter. It also affects other non-US visitors from countries such as Germany or the UK, two of Florida's biggest "fly-drive" holiday tourist markets.

Here are some "work-around" solutions you might wish to try:

1. A Canadian Zip Code - A number of readers have contacted me to suggest entering "00000," "11111," "12345" or "99999" (depending upon gas brand). All claim that these work at their southern destinations.

When tested, we have found these to be regional brand specific. There is no continuity in this solution and when you drive into a station away from your home base, you really do not know whether you are going to be able to actuate the pump or not with your card, using these phony numbers.

Canadian Master Card holders may have more luck. Recently, several folk who use MC have written to me to say that by extracting the numbers from their postal code and adding two zeros to the end to create a 5 digit number, seems to work with some consistency.

For example, my postal code is L5G  4N9. My created "zip code" would then be "54900." Try it it may work.

Good News - in recent years, readers have reported to us that this does work with reasonable consistency on their drives south. It's worth trying if you have a Master Card.

Visa card holders may also wish to try this.

2. Contact your Canadian bank branch before you leave - According to some of our readers, different banks may have different solutions. They all seem to be aware of the "U.S. gas pump" problem.

For example, a Bank of Montreal Master Card customer said her bank was able to put her U.S. destination on her card record as a secondary address, thereby providing her with her destination zip code for gas pump validatrion. She used her card with no problem for the duration of her Florida trip.

3. Canadian Debit Card (for certain Canadian banks only) - Suitable for short term visitors to Florida - this works but may involves a Canadian bank transaction cost.

Most major U.S. gasoline vendors are partnered with NYCE - one of the leading ATM networks in the United States. Recently, several Canadian financial institutions became members of the NYCE network; their debit cards are now acceptable for initiating purchases at the pumps of these partnered gas vendors. Debit cards do not require a zip code for at-the-pump authorization; instead they require your 4-digit personal identification number (PIN) issued by your bank.

The Canadian financial institutions issuing debit cards acceptable on the NYCE network are:ATB Financial, Desjardins, National Bank of Canada, RBC Royal Bank, Scotiabank and TD Canada Trust. Additional institutions may be added from time to time.

A list of U.S. gas companies partnered with NYCE include: 7-Eleven, Amoco, BP, Chevron, Citgo, Exxon, Gulf, Hess, Mobil, RaceTrac, Shell, Sunoco and Texaco. For a complete list of gas companies and other organizations accepting Canadian NYCE partnered debit cards, click here to visit the NYCE website.

Look for the red and white "NYCE" symbol in the "Cards Accepted" panel on the gas pump.

NYCE does not charge for this service but in a recent test using a Scotiabank debit card in Florida, we noted that Scotiabank applied a C$1.50 service charge to our account for each transaction.

Further, all our Scotiabank debit card gas charges were applied to our C$ chequing account with the Bank's applicable U.S. exchange rate added, even though we maintain a Scotiabank U.S. chequing account. We were unable to arrange to have a Scotiabank U.S. debit card or have the charges directed to our Scotiabank US$ account.