ROME - Hosed at the pump! Imagine bouncing a check - but not because you didn't balance your books correctly. In fact, you find out there's a $50 hold on your bank account, thanks to a $20 fill up!

The simple answer - if you use your debit card to fill up, you need to watch your bank account very carefully. That's because part of your checking account can be blocked - sometimes for days - after the transaction.

One local woman found out the hard way that there were holds on her bank account after she topped off her tank.

"We went to write a check, wrote that out, and all of a sudden, it bounced," said Rita Daggett. "And we found out that the Hess gas station put a $50 hold on our account. Even though we only bought $20 worth of gas, they took $50 out of our account."

Rita's bank told her the hold was placed by the gas station. But according to the National Association of Convenience Stores, "retailers are not responsible for the amount of the hold when a customer conducts a debit transaction."

Both the amount and the length of the hold are determined by the bank issuing the debit card.

Here's the thing - big oil companies are partially responsible as well. They can determine different pre-authorization amounts on debit purchases, simply to make sure they get paid.

They don't know how much gas you're actually going to pump, so they choose a set "hold" amount for debit transactions that don't require a PIN number or signature.