Who Can Tell Me If This Is Legal And Who Has Ever Heard Of This Before?

I hardly ever pay for gas at those ATM they have at the pumps but today I ran out of cash and wanted to get my gas before I went home. I used my Citibank credit/debit card which I turned into a working account to pay my bills every month. I never keep a lot of money in that account just enough to pay my car insurance, Directv, cell phone with maybe $20 dollars left over. I only wanted $10 worth of gas.

Anyway, I put my card in and followed instructions and it said "card declined". I thought I had done something wrong and tried it again...same thing came up. I went inside the Arco AM/PM and tried to use the card at the counter and it said "card declined".

I knew I had over $10 in the account so when I got home I called my bank. They told me there was a $75 hold done at an Arco gas station. I was like WHAT!!! No money was taken out but this person who ran this particular Arco gas station has it set up where instead of putting a hold of a dollar on a customer's account to see if the account is open, they put a $75 hold. Some banks let this hold stay on for 2-3 business day but my bank took the hold off.

The rep said he never heard of a gas station putting a hold of $75 on a person's credit/debit card when they use their card to buy gas at the pump. Has this ever happen to anyone else?