My advice has always been this: never ever use a debit card in a gas station, car rental or hotel, as these are the places where larger-than-the-actual-transaction holds that last too long are most common. Of course, some people don't own credit cards-- Yancey has tips to minimize the risk of debit holds causing other transactions to fail. My other advice has been not to use debit cards at all, as the cards are subject to fraud risks. Worse, their frequent use for micro-transactions can subject you to large overdraft fees, since banks allow debit cards to overdraft your account resulting in the infamous $3 latte that costs you $35 more. Was it really that tasty?

Holds are also placed on credit cards, of course, but most people don't notice them as their credit limits are high enough to compensate. Most people are closer to zero in their checking accounts than to their credit card limits.