To be annoyed that certain things will only accept a credit card when I don't have one?

[FedupofbeingtoldIcantusemyname]

I'm going on a trip (yay!)

Trying to book myself some hostel accomodation and a train ticket and both of these places will only accept a credit card payment to book/pay for.

I don't have a credit card and have 0% chance of getting one as my credit history is not very good :/ Don't really like the idea of having one either as I prefer to just spend the money I have rather than borrow it if I don't need to.

I know that, particularly for international payments and stuff, credit cards can be useful and you sometimes get more protection if things go wrong, easier to get money back etc but it's sooooo annoying that certain places will only take credit cards.

Aibu to find it really annoying or is there some fantastically good reason for having them I'm missing out on?

You can get a prepaid MasterCard from pockit. You pay 99p for the card and there are no credit checks. Then you just load it like a gift card HTH
www.pockit.com

I don't have a credit card either. It is a pain - it is possible sometimes to get around it using Paypal or bank transfer. RIng teh place you are bookking & ask if they will take a payment by ddifferent means.

You can set up a direct debit to pay the whole credit card balance off every month so no risk of being charged interest or forgetting to pay.

On Moneysavingexpert there is a tool where you put in your details and it tells you the likelihood of being accepted.

Or if your going abroad revolut is a good prepaid travel MasterCard

I'm not sure I understand that if you have the money now why you can't pay off a credit card if you did manage to get one. But a prepaid def sounds like a good option

Get a credit card that gives you an interest-free period.

fedup No one will give me one. I might be able to get one of those 1000000% interest ones but not really keen on having one of those :/

Well, you won't pay any interest if you clear the balance, will you?
And if you set up a DD to pay the whole balance every month, you don't need to do anything else!

I don't really see an issue with this.

But prepaid cards are your alternative.

I think one of the reason I'm not keen to get one (if I'm honest) is that I don't really understand how they work and I find them horribly confusing :/ I'm not the best with money anyway and I really don't want the risk of getting into debt.

Pre paid might be a good idea though, I'll have a look into it

I'd be happy to pay it all in advance but not got a response from the companies yet!

Your bank might give you a credit card

If you get one (even with a rubbish interest rate) and use it regularly, to pay for things you would use cash for, like groceries and petrol then pay it off in full every month, you won't pay any interest and it will really help to improve your credit rating. Just make sure it has a low limit so you are not tempted to overspend if that is a problem for you.