No credit card - holiday ruined??

[Rockmehardplace]

I’ve booked a driving holiday and need to hire a car. Turns out I need a credit card to use as a deposit against any damage and I don’t have one. I’m distraught as everything is booked & paid for. Have applied for a credit card via my bank but they’ve said it could be 7 days till they make a decision and I fly on Monday. Does anyone give instant credit cards (I have savings, no debt, good credit rating etc). To stop me losing all the money on the holiday and DC being gutted????
im already distraught about the whole thing so don’t need telling how stupid I have been :(

Are pre paid credit cards or travellers credit cards a thing? No need for credit checks so fairly instant

No idea how much you'd need to deposit on the card to cover a hire car tho..

The bank might be much quicker. Can you call them tomorrow? I'm sure I got one very quickly from my bank after switching from another provider. You can usually just use the card in an app now too so don't have to wait to get a physical one.

This happened to me and I found some companies don’t require a credit card but that’s specific to certain countries.
Was fine for me after ringing around in Lanzarote.

As in a debit card and credit check was sufficient.

They often offer additional insurance as an alternative to the cc hold. This is usually somewhere around 100 - 200 but obviously varies.

They just held the excess on my debit card. I ended up choosing the most bells and whistles insurance yo bring it right down otherwise I’d of had no spending money!

It really depends on the country but we often forget to take our credit cards (or in my case entire wallet) on holiday and have always found a way to get around it. We did once have a ridiculous hold on a debit card (I think more than 1 to cover the amount!) and it was fine. Ring them and ask.

Also OP you can get an instance decision for credit cards via one of your bank accounts. Chase is pushing theirs if you’re an existing customer?

Are you sure they won't take a debit card? I have always rented a car with a debit card but sometimes you have to put down a deposit, which you get back when you've returned the car without incident.

Have you a non traditional bank account such as Revolut or Monzo? I haven't tried it, but revolut seems to indicate you could get approved for a credit card in minutes. You can use a virtual card if you don't have the physical card on time.

Where are you going OP? We rent cars every holiday in Greece. We choose a local company i.e. not Hertz or through the holiday company. Select full no excess insurance and pay in cash on collection. No cards needed at all.

@Rockmehardplace if you're going to Europe with the exception of Ireland, France and Portugal, a debit card should suffice.

check here

I hired a car recently with just a cash deposit as my credit card didn't come through in time and the company I wanted to use just took credit cards so I emailed them to ask. Plenty of companies take debit cards though.
Have you already paid for the hire car from a specific company? If not, and it's cancellable, try looking on a comparison website for car hire. It should state whether you need a credit card or just debit card before you book. On travel supermarket you can filter by type of card needed.

I think this might be right. I was in the same predicament a couple of weeks ago when I travelled to Italy. My new card turned up the day before we left.

Ive looked at the email I got regarding a credit card and it says that some companies will accept a debit card or a bigger payment.

Some companies do specify credit card, not debit card. I know this because I had booked a hire car for holiday in Spain last month, but due to fraud on my credit card it was cancelled a few days before I went away, and the new one wasn't going to arrive on time.

OP - I was able to cancel my initial car hire booking - check the cancellation policy you have. I then rebooked with another company which did accept debit card - they held a charge on my card in case of any damage.

If you're going to Spain - I booked through an intermediary called Zest - they get good reviews on Which - and the car hire company was Centauro.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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

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.

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

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