Capital One for a car rental

[cloudship]

I have to make a trip next week. I need to rent a car, but most places will not rent to someone with a debit card. There are a few who will, but the require large deposits upwards of $300.

I recently tried applying for a credit card through Digital Credit Union. They pulled my report and I had an experian score of 672. The problem was, my discharge was only one year ago, so they declined me. Now, I am getting offers from Orchard Bank and Capital One. I have thought about applying for one of their cards (Digital was going to give me $1000), but I am not sure if I should. If I got a $1000 credit limit it might not be a bad thing, since I could secure the rental car and start rebuilding my credit. On the other hand, a limit of $500 isn't going to help me in this situation, and to be honest I am really not tht interested in haivng a credit card at all right now.

So I am not sure what I should do. I could always just put down the security deposit one one debit card and the rental on another (I have two checking accounts with the money in them, you just can't go over $500 a day and I also have to pay for hotel).

[FilingOnMyOwn]

Thats too bad you haven't been rebuilding during the entire year since you were discharged. It is possible it may take many months for you to get a card over $500 since you have not been rebuilding. During the 6 months following my bk discharge, I went from 300$ cards, to 500, to 900, to 5000, to 7500 by 6 months after discharge. Kind of scared what the next one would bring, so I stopped applying. My recommendation to you to start, is to apply for the capital one, the hooters mastercard, and a wamu platinum. You should get at least one of them possibly more. If you don't get a decent limit right away, you may have to open a pre-paid credit card or use a debit card for anything that requires over $500 at once.

[SinkingFast]

If you haven't done anything about addressing issues in your Credit Report, you'll want to work on that too.

And, as FOMO suggested, get yourself some type of Credit going if you can. You need to rebuild in order to buy a car sometime in the future. Possibly a home. Big ticket items that pocket change and savings will not cover.

A couple of suggestions for you in the interim,............

Enterprise will rent with a $200 hit on your Debit Card.

Use your Debit Card number to secure your room reservation, then pay cash at check-in. That way you don't use up a significant chunk of your daily limit on the hotel room.

Speak with a Rep at your Bank. Tell them you travel for business frequently and need a higher daily limit. Ask about having the Bank raise your limit to $1K/day.

[ekelly4200]

I have to make a trip next week. I need to rent a car, but most places will not rent to someone with a debit card. There are a few who will, but the require large deposits upwards of $300.

I recently tried applying for a credit card through Digital Credit Union. They pulled my report and I had an experian score of 672. The problem was, my discharge was only one year ago, so they declined me. Now, I am getting offers from Orchard Bank and Capital One. I have thought about applying for one of their cards (Digital was going to give me $1000), but I am not sure if I should. If I got a $1000 credit limit it might not be a bad thing, since I could secure the rental car and start rebuilding my credit. On the other hand, a limit of $500 isn't going to help me in this situation, and to be honest I am really not tht interested in haivng a credit card at all right now.

So I am not sure what I should do. I could always just put down the security deposit one one debit card and the rental on another (I have two checking accounts with the money in them, you just can't go over $500 a day and I also have to pay for hotel).

If your debit card has a Visa/Mastercard logo you can use it to rent a car. I had the rental amount plus another $ 100 and that was fine. This was with Thrifty and National. Just dont say its a debit card.

[cloudship]

I did find out that National and Alamo will accept debit cards so long as you present an air line ticket. Budget will also accept Debit cards, but they authorize a minium of $300 on it. Neither is ideal, but it works well enough for me. Unfortunately all debit cards have debit printed right on them somewhere. Never understood why, but for that matter I never understood why they don't work for car rentals.

My credit score is actually pretty good. When I applied the loan office had tentatively approved me for a grade B ate - I was quite surprised at that. However they couldn't approve it because they have a minimum 2 year clearance on a bankruptcy. To be honest right now I am surviving quite happily without a credit card except for this, and honestly I don't want to get into the habit of using cards again, because I know how bad I am with them. I am also thinking that this would hurt my credit rating more anyways, because it will appear as though I immediately maxed out my credit limit even though it was only a deposit. I have enough otherwise to pay for the trip ad the car rental, so I am simpy going to go through one of those companies.

Oh, one other thing - be careful about some of the companies. While they do supposedly accept debit cards, they pull credit reports and if you don't meet their rental qualifications they will refuse you. And it shows up as a pull.

[SinkingFast]

Another thought for you,..........

Some car rental agencies do a Cash Rental. You have to apply in advance for the rental agency's Cash Rental card. And the couple I checked into, the Cash Rental card is only good for 6 months. Then you'd have to renew it.

Not sure if Cash Rental cards would involve a credit pull or not.

We had to rent a car this summer while one was in the shop for body repair. The other person's insurance, State Farm, would reimburse us after the repair had been done.

We went with Enterprise and it was easy. $200 hit on the Debit Card. They offered that I could take a cash refund or have the balance credited back. I went with the credit. Direct Refund of the balance to our bank acct within 2 business days. No Credit pull that I know of. None showing on our Credit Records.

State Farm was worse to deal with about getting the car repaired and getting a refund of our rental fees than Enterprise was with using a Debit Card for the rental.

[ekelly4200]

I did find out that National and Alamo will accept debit cards so long as you present an air line ticket. Budget will also accept Debit cards, but they authorize a minium of $300 on it. Neither is ideal, but it works well enough for me. Unfortunately all debit cards have debit printed right on them somewhere. Never understood why, but for that matter I never understood why they don't work for car rentals.
.

My mastercard debit card from my bank does not have Debit listed anywhere on it.

[FilingOnMyOwn]

If you're bad with credit cards, it doesn't mean you can't get one just to use only for what you need, then cut it up once you're done. The account will stay open and be a positive tradeline on your credit report, and you can just pay the bill when it comes.

[lrprn]

My mastercard debit card from my bank does not have Debit listed anywhere on it.

Take a look in and around the MC logo on your card. Our from our bank has "Debit" showing in white on top of the hologram MC interlinked worlds - it's very hard to see unless I tilt the card the right way.

If you do have a debit MC card without debit showing anywhere on it, then lucky you!

[Keebler]

I have an idea that might work. I've done some digging into it and I don't see why it can't work...

At the Mall (and other places) you can buy VISA Gift Cards. They're supposed to work exactly like a normal VISA card, so it seems like you'd just need to have enough cash to get one.

The only reasons I can see against the idea is the fact that there's a charge for it and a charge if there's still a balance after 6 Months or a Year. (Different cards vary.) There's also no way to cash out unused money on the card. I figured I'd be able to use any scrap left over buying gas or other necessities I'd need getting anyway. You can also roll over the balance to a new card.

The highest balance I've seen available is $500 so it might be too restrictive for some things.

Does anyone see a reason why this wouldn't be a good solution for the times that a credit card is a must-have item?

[Spartan]

I have a prepaid credit card. You can get one at WalGreen. It is basically a debit card. You have to put money in before you can use it.

It doesn't say debit on the card. There is no credit line. The credit line is what you deposit into it (their term is called 'load')

The cost is $5.00 a month for a maximum load of $500, ie you can put $500 into it and then use the card as you would a credit card. If you want higher amount, you can upgrade to Premier Card, where the monthly fee is $7.95, and the maximum amount you can deposit/load is $2000.

There are other cards with different fees structure. Do a search online.

Needless to say, it doesn't rebuild your credit score. But if you need a credit card but can't get one, or don't have the discipline to use one responsibly (no offence), then this is an option.

The prepaid is more suitable for those who need a credit card, but can't get one.....

[CindyLou]

My mastercard debit card from my bank does not have Debit listed anywhere on it.

they can tell by the 4 numbers that your card begins with. Debit cards only start with certain numbers......mine is 4060...but there are others. So even if the rental agent doesn't notice, the system will.

[ekelly4200]

they can tell by the 4 numbers that your card begins with. Debit cards only start with certain numbers......mine is 4060...but there are others. So even if the rental agent doesn't notice, the system will.

Not tryng to pick a fight but just relate my experince. I have rented a car 3 times the past year each with a different company. All asked if using a debit card. I just ignore that question. (I reserve online) Went through just fine and no hassles. No extra holds for a deposit. And it does not say debit anywhere on the card but does have the Mastercard logo.