How to Apply for a Truck Stop Fleet Card: Pilot, TA/Petro and Love's Requirements

None of the three big truck stop chains charges anything to apply for its fleet card. Love's says "no application or transaction fees" for new, qualifying customers, Pilot advertises "zero hidden fees", and TA's Fleet Universal card has no transaction or annual fees. The costs come later, in what you agree to when you sign: who guarantees the debt, how long the contract runs, and what one late payment or one fill-up at another chain costs.

So this guide covers the application itself: what each chain asks for, who qualifies, and the lines in the terms that decide what the card really costs you. If you are still choosing between cards, our comparison of the best fuel cards for truckers reviews them one by one.

Quick answer: Pilot takes applications online, says its card needs no hard credit check, and turns down gas-only fleets. TA/Petro has two cards, both applied for through WEX: TA Fleet Universal, used at TA and Petro, and earnify fleet, which works across most U.S. stations but signs you to a five year term. Love's Express Credit uses a paper application that asks for owners' Social Security numbers, three credit references and a personal guaranty, plus financial statements above $10,000 of credit. Apply to the chain you fill up at most, and read its fee schedule as closely as the discount.

Applications, terms and fee schedules read on Pilot's newsroom, ta-petro.com, WEX's application and terms pages, lovesfinancial.com and loves.com on 19 October 2026.

What Each Chain Asks You For

Pilot Flying J. Pilot's application is online, at the Axle fuel card credit application page linked from its 25 September 2026 announcement. The same announcement makes two statements a small carrier will care about: "Pilot's fuel card does not require a hard credit check", and accounts are "subject to credit approval". Two qualification rules are stated outright. Accounts are for commercial use only, and "gas only fleets are not eligible for approval." Diesel and mixed fuel fleets qualify. For the fastest approval Pilot gives a phone number, (865) 474-2935, and it says approval times vary. Pilot also offers direct billing for fleets that want an invoice instead of a card. We couldn't open the application form itself, because Pilot's main site blocked our checks, so the field list below comes from TA and Love's only.

TA/Petro. TA has two fleet cards, and the difference matters for what you sign. The TA Fleet Universal card works at TA and Petro locations for fuel, DEF, truck repairs, parking and food, earns UltraONE points on every gallon, and charges "one predictable monthly maintenance fee" instead of transaction or annual fees. The page doesn't say how much that fee is, so ask for the figure when you apply. The apply button takes you to a WEX form. Its first step asks for your legal name and job title, email, a mobile number for a one time verification code, the legal business name and any DBA, a business phone, and the year the business was established. The year established field is required.

The earnify fleet card is issued by WEX Bank and runs on Mastercard. TA says it is accepted at 95% of U.S. fuel stations and saves "up to 7¢ per gallon" at bp, Amoco, Thorntons, TA, Petro and TA Express. You apply through WEX's site as well.

Love's. Love's Express Credit uses a paper form. You fill in the business credit application and send it by fax or email. On approval, Love's Client Management contacts you, and the account also works at Love's Truck Care and Speedco. The form asks for more than either of the others:

• legal business name, DBAs, Federal Tax ID, the year you started in business and your estimated annual sales
• the amount of credit you want, and your D&B number if you have one
• financial statements if you ask for more than $10,000
• names, titles and Social Security numbers for every owner, partner or officer
• one bank reference and three credit references
• whether you want cards or RFID tags, and a list of vehicles and drivers
• a signature from an owner, officer or partner who can bind the company

Love's says the program is "available for any size of fleet", and its Express Credit page lists a 20¢ per gallon discount, no-cost account maintenance and free cards and tags, all marked "for new, qualifying customers".

Where the Signature Costs You Later

The application is free at all three chains. These are the terms that cost money afterwards.

A personal guaranty at Love's. The Love's form includes a personal guaranty. It is joint and several, which means each person who signs can be held liable for the whole balance. Each guarantor also authorizes Love's to pull a consumer credit report on them. For a one-truck LLC, that puts the company's fuel bill on you personally. The form doesn't say whether Love's ever approves an account without a guarantor.

A five year contract on earnify. The earnify fleet terms (WEX, dated 19 August 2025) set an initial term of five years, which then renews every year unless you give 90 days' notice. Ending the agreement early during those five years triggers a termination fee "as set forth in the applicable Schedule". The fee schedule we read doesn't list an amount, so ask WEX for the figure in writing.

The cost of paying late. On earnify, a missed due date costs the greater of $75 or 9.99% of the total outstanding balance. On a $3,000 fuel bill, that's $299.70 for one late payment. After a late payment within six months, or a returned payment, WEX can also add a high-risk credit fee of 2% of your credit limit, up to $199 a month. Payment is due 14 to 22 days after the billing cycle closes. On Love's, late invoices carry a 1.5% monthly service charge (18% a year), and a returned payment costs $50 plus an administration fee of up to 15% of that $50.

Fueling at another chain. On the earnify card, every swipe at Love's, Pilot or Flying J costs $1.25. The terms call those sites "Truck Stops" and name exactly those chains. If your lanes take you to a Pilot most nights, that's about $25 a month at 20 fills, before the gallons. The card also costs $4.95 a month in account maintenance.

The dispute window. Love's gives you 90 days to dispute a fuel charge and 180 days for anything else. A charge nobody checks until the quarterly fuel tax filing can be past the 90 days, so the statement needs checking the month it arrives.

See how the fuel cards rate

Check directory scores and listing details for the 14 fuel cards on TruckMyApps, including Pilot Flying J, TA/Petro and Love's.

View fuel cards →

When the Business Is New

All three applications ask how long you've been in business. TA's WEX form makes year established a required field, and Love's form asks "in business since". None of them publishes a minimum, so a new authority can apply at any of them. What the age of the business changes is how much credit you get and what you're asked to back it with.

Of the three, Pilot is the only one to say publicly that it skips the hard credit check. On what the chains publish, that makes Pilot the gentlest first application when the owner's personal credit is the only history the business has. Love's goes the other way, since its guaranty includes consent to a consumer credit pull on each guarantor. A small credit request also keeps the Love's application short, because financial statements are required only above $10,000.

Reading the Discount Line

Each chain advertises a discount, and the three numbers are measured in different ways.

• Love's 20¢ per gallon is listed for new, qualifying customers. The page doesn't say how long it lasts or what qualifies.
• Pilot's "up to 65¢ per gallon" is the maximum at select locations during limited periods, and Pilot says it "is not typical". Its own example is more useful: owner-operator fleets on its net pricing program saved an average of $3,876 in 2025, which Pilot works out from 950 gallons a month at an average of 34¢ a gallon.
• earnify's "up to 7¢" applies at bp, Amoco, Thorntons and the TA brands. At Love's, Pilot and Flying J you pay the $1.25 swipe fee instead.

These figures come from each company's own marketing. We haven't confirmed them on an actual statement, so treat them as a starting point and ask for your price in writing at your monthly gallons. One rule follows from them: the discount only applies at the chain where you buy most of your diesel. The application to start with is the one for that chain.

Which Application to Start With

Owner-operator, mostly on Pilot and Flying J routes: apply to Pilot first. It's online, it says there's no hard credit check, and it publishes a worked example of savings at owner-operator volume.

Carrier on TA and Petro lanes: if you mostly fuel at TA and Petro, apply for the TA Fleet Universal card, and get the monthly maintenance fee quoted first. The earnify card makes sense only if you fuel mostly at bp and TA and rarely at Love's or Pilot. Its five year term is the line to weigh against those savings.

Fleet already set up with Love's for tires or service: Love's Express Credit also covers Truck Care and Speedco. If you are comfortable signing a personal guaranty and sharing the paperwork the form asks for, it's one account for fuel and service.

Fleet that fuels at all three: a chain card may not be the answer. TA's fuel desks accept outside fleet cards such as Comdata, EFS, WEX and Voyager, and our comparison of the best fuel cards covers the cards that work across chains.

A free application doesn't make the card free. The cost is set by the fee schedule you sign.

Check how the fuel cards rate

TruckMyApps lists 14 fuel cards. Pilot Flying J has a directory score of 3.8 with 37 reviews listed, TA/Petro 3.8 with 21, and Love's Express 3.6 with 31.

Browse fuel cards →

Pilot's terms were read in its newsroom announcements of 25 September 2026 and 1 May 2020. Pilot's main site and its application page blocked our requests, so we didn't see the form. TA's card pages and WEX's application form and earnify terms (dated 19 August 2025) were read on 19 October 2026, as were Love's Express Credit page, its fleet solutions page and its business credit application. Fees and terms can change without notice, so confirm them on the agreement you're offered. Directory scores and review counts are TruckMyApps data as of 19.10.2026.