BP cards have become an ideal prize or gift in foreign countries due to their convenience
and practicality. One can use these cards to pay for petrol or buying any other item at a
pump store. Not only can they be easily made, but are even easier to be used. With a BP
card, buying premium BP fuels, food, car services have become so much easier. Below given
are some of the features of a BP gift card:
- The gift card doesn't require the user's pin or signature for activating the card. This
also means that there's no need to fill forms and submit official paperwork.
- Several BP gift cards can be purchased, having different values, ranging from $5 to $1000.
- These cards are only accepted by participating in BP pump services.
- BP gift cards, however, do not provide withdrawal services.
- If in case, you run short of cash, you can pay the remaining balance using your BP
gift card.
- If the BP gift card has remained inactive for two consecutive years at a stretch, it will
turn inactive. This means that the expiry date of BP gift cards keeps changing.
- The remaining balance on your BP gift card is reflected on the receipt, after making
a payment, purchase, or redemption.
Ways in which one can use a BP gift card
After getting a rough idea about BP gift cards, let us now dive into the various ways in
which one can utilize a BP gift card.
With the pay the pump technology, users can now use their BP gift cards to pay at nearby
stores. You have to swipe your card, enter the PIN, select the type of fuel you have bought
and the amount gets automatically deducted from your balance. However, the BP gift card
works differently from normal credit or debit cards. The reason being you never know how
much will your fuel purchase cost. Here are two things to know how the payment is done:
1. The amount must be more than the pre-authorization charge
When you insert your BP gift card to pay at the pump, it gets to check if it's still active. If
you have a sufficient balance, the amount will get automatically deducted. However, the gas
pump can only guess the exact amount payable. Hence, it makes a pre-authorization charge.
If your BP gift card has less than the pre-authorization charge, the card will get declined.
2. When the payment is done
When you insert a debit or credit card for payment, temporarily you lose your hold on the
funds, and the actual amount for the quantity of fuel purchased is paid. A lot of people don't
notice this mechanism, because they do not check the balance on their cards before
payments. However, gift cards aren't handled this way. Even if your gift card has enough
balance to pay for the amount of fuel you have purchased, it will not be accepted if it's less
than the estimated amount given by the machine.
When you go for issuing a BP gift card, you will have to nominate its value at the BP service
station. BP gift card owners must also remember that they cannot use the card unless it has
been activated by a participating BP service station. The value of gift cards can be increased
by $5 after specific intervals. People can redeem the gift card for paying at gas stations.
Your gift card will only be accepted by a BP gas station if the amount of redemption can be
covered by it. Also, remember that the amount of redemption cannot be more than the
value of the gift card. To check the current balance of your gift card, you can visit the official
website of BP gift card or take the card to a nearby BP gas station.