How difficult is it to travel America without a credit card?
I’m planning a trip to the US in June which will include hotel stays and car hire yet everywhere I seem to book makes a big deal of having a credit card for security or deposits etc. For example Alamo car hire seems to have a problem with debit cards as do many hotels. Surely it can’t be that much of a problem not to have one? Any advice please?
June 1st, 2010 at 11:12 am
car hire will be next to impossible, hotels provided you stay in budget places such as knights inn scotland inn days inn or comfort inn should not be an issue if your willing to take you chance and just turn up hope for a booking.
One solution is to have a prepaid credit card gold card I believe is one, guaranteed acceptance etc
day to day things like eating shopping are not an issue americans like the rest of us as more than happy tpo receive cold hard cash
June 1st, 2010 at 11:53 am
It will be very hard, if not impossible, to secure anything without a credit card.
June 1st, 2010 at 12:01 pm
Here in the US, you need a credit card to get a hotel. I doubt you’ll find a hotel that says otherwise.
June 1st, 2010 at 12:27 pm
When I went, I found the best way was to use a debit card in the cash machines. Especially the ones outside the banks. There is no charge, and you get the full exchange rate on your statement.
June 1st, 2010 at 12:53 pm
As other have stated having a credit card for things like hotels and cars is pretty much a necessity since they use that form of payment as a security against any damage you may do to the car or room. If you do go the pre-paid card route you’ll want to ask the car rental company how much of the available card limit they will “hold”. Typically they will pre-authorize and hold the amount of the rental (sometimes double that amount in case of overages) plus the amount of the deposit. That amount will be unavailable for you to use until the car is returned and the hold removed.
June 1st, 2010 at 1:37 pm
Very difficult as most places take a swipe of your card as insurance. So they have details to bill for missing and broken items.
If you are unlucky enough to be flagged then homeland security track you this way
June 1st, 2010 at 1:52 pm
There is a lot people that do not use Credit Cards. So, you might want to pay for it in advance through a travel agencies.
Make sure your debit card has the Visa (Not electron) or Mastercard(not Maestro) logo on the card.
To correct one poster. Atms do charge a fee on top of what your bank charges you.
You need to notify the bank that you will be using your card in the U.S.