No credit card - holiday ruined??

Open a Monzo account, apply for a Monzo Flex, they approve it instantly if you qualify and you get a virtual card immediately to use on apple/Google pay. The card arrives quickly too

We don’t have a credit card and we’ve hired cars.

I have a Halifax credit card, the details became available on the app hours after I applied online. Might be useful.

Does where you’re going have a ‘Goldcar’ branch OP? You can take out their ‘Key & Go’ package which is full insurance, full cover blablabla and so you don’t have to leave any card for excess. It costs a few hundred more but DP and I always do it after having several incidents with companies trying to get money from us for tiny scratches 😂

I rented one in France and they used my debit card with no issues (via enterprise).

Who did you apply for your card with? I'm more shocked that it's taking you 7 days to get a decision on a credit card, I've had multiple cards over the last few years and all have been instant decisions whether I've done them via the bank or through a credit app site.

We had this in New York- didn’t find out till we were in the hire office needing to leave eeek! But they accepted viewing our boarding pass that we weren’t going to run off it with the car as we were leaving the country in two days.

Not always…

This happened to us, but we only found out on arrival. The paperwork said to bring the card you paid with, but the company wouldn’t budge on a credit card. They cancelled the booking and we got a full refund, but we had to hire a car with a very dodgy seeming local operator. Can you cancel and book with a different operator who’ll accept a debit card?

The experience really put a dampener on the holiday for me.

Some companies will accept your application and then send you a digital card to add to your Apple/Google wallet. That might work. I have a feeling virgin credit card do this

Ok as long as you paid for the holiday on credit card you can get refunded.

You can use your debit card!

Do you definitely need a car? Shuttle taxi from/ to airport, book tours that collect from your accommodation, take local buses or taxi.

Look for another hire company maybe?

Seems odd to have booked a driving holiday but never apparently ever driven abroad

or if you have driven abroad, then go with the hire company that you went with previously that didn’t require a CC

Idk whether these used to be acceptable, but I hired a car in Italy from Avis in June and they had a sign up listing these as one of the card types they do not accept.

You can sometimes use debit card but you’ll need the deposit amount available for them to take / hold, and then refund. This might be one option.
If you buy their excess waiver directly from them, I don’t think they still need a CC but I could be wrong. Think the hold amount comes down to like £250 or something. Worth checking with the car hire company.

I looked at my credit cards, I have three, one had just one initial, one had two initials and one had full name, initial.

Is this the first time you’ve driven abroad op?

The other issue I came across with Spanish car hire companies was that they require you to have your full name on the credit card. Not just initials.

Yes, this, many credit cards only have initials, Barclaycard being one of them, means they can conveniently get you to pay the high priced extra insurance.

You could try Metro bank. When we opened kids bank accounts they printed up the cards instantly in the bank

I hired a car with Enterprise a couple of weeks ago and they offered me the option of putting a charge on my credit card as a deposit or doing a credit check and using my debit card.
This was in the UK, but they operate internationally so they might be a good place to start if you can’t get a credit card in time.

Sometimes they just take money of the debit card as a deposit. I take it you haven't pre paid so you can cancel? Maybe look for another company.

I've entered Debit card details instead in the past (as long as it has a chip) and it's worked. You could try that.

Monzo/Revolut and similar offer instant credit, but you won't get a physical card in time if that's what's required.

You could get a pre-paid credit card and top it up with the amount the hire company want to put on hold, but not everywhere accepts those cards for holding deposits (for obvious reasons) so you should check with them before setting off.

Are you sure they won't accept a debit card though? I travel practically every other week with my job, all over the world, and I haven't had a CC for 10 years, only debit and Monzo. Genuinely can't remember my Monzo not being accepted as a holding card at a hotel, although admittedly I've never used it for a car.

As a last resort, could you use a friend/family member's credit card? Either by borrowing the physical card or having them call up and give their details when you arrive?

Either way you have two options...

1. You call up and confirm what they will/won't accept beforehand. If it's a definite 'no', you can look for an alternative company who can help you, or cut your losses before you set off.

2. You cross your fingers, turn up luggage and children in hand and crack on daft.

A debit card is normally fine for them to use to hold a deposit. As others have said, if you go for the full bells and whistles insurance then there is normally no deposit needed.

Klarna give an instant decision on a credit card (called the Klarna card and 0%) however if you need the physical card it takes a few days to be sent out. You’d likely get an initial limit of a few hundred if accepted.

Any other company I have had a CC with require you to have the physical card in your hands before uploading to your Apple wallet or buying stuff. They don’t tell you the CVV over the phone or online application for security reasons. In which case I’d say it’s incredibly unlikely you’d receive it by Monday.

Where are you going? Some countries are more flexible than others. I know one in Ireland that takes debit cards, it’s myirishcousin.