Hacker News Reader

Oh wow. I wonder how upset you would be when you realize that some gas stations put a $100 hold on your credit card. Btw. a hold is not a charge. A charge is only when it shows up on your credit card bill as a charge and not as a hold.

I do not see what the issue is with having a $25 hold? It's not a charge.

View on HN

Yes, but the amount is held for a few days. Even after cancelling the ride, it took 3 days for the hold to clear.

I'm still building credit (no history), which is why I'm not using a credit card. I believe holds only take place with debit cards.

Ohh. That makes sense. So it took $25 away from your actual money, right? I can see how that is trouble some.

Sorry, I assumed you used a credit card.

Yeah, straight from my checking account. No worries bro :)

Using a credit card builds your credit. Just remember to always pay it back (in full) on time.

Haha, you're right - I did not phrase that correctly: I use a secured CC sparingly to avoid over-utilization. In this case, I had to use my debit card.

Utilization has no lasting effect on your credit score - if you have 100% utilization one month and pay it off next month, your credit score will be the same as if your utilization was 0% the whole time. It doesn't matter for building credit in the long term.

I see, thanks for the info. I will keep that in mind.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com