USVI-On-Line

We are going to be spending our honeymoon in St John at the end of May. Here is our dilema:

My folks want to give us our rental car for the week as a wedding present. Our problem is that we don't have a credit card, we use a debit card. I am having trouble finding an agency that will let us pick up a paid car rental without presenting a major credit card for a deposit.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how we might be able to work around this problem?

Thanks for any helpful tips!

Peter and Brenda

Would your folks be willing to get an additional credit card from their CC company with your name on it? It should arrive in time for your honeymoon.

I probably wouldn't even want to ask except as a last resort.I have considered getting a secured credit card just for this purpose, but it would tie up vacation funds.

OK, then my next suggestion would be to have the parents call and explain the situation to the car rental place. I hope something can be worked out. Maybe a more seasoned forum member will have another suggestion. Good luck and have a fabulous honeymoon!

Well, really this is credit against any damanges on the rental or other liabilities. A credit card is the easiest way to do this. You'll need to present the credit card when you pickup the vehicle anyways. It's unlikely that you'll avoid this, even with a third party paying the rental cost.

You could use a letter of credit from a bank, but that's impractical as they usually cost $250 to setup and cost 1% of the credit level.

If you are under 25 there are other challenges as well with regard to renting a vehicle.

Good luck on your wedding. You'll be starting things off right on STJ!

Cheers, RickG

Don't know if it would work but what about your folks giving you a prepaid VISA or AMExp card? You can check and see if the rental companies would take that...

I believe budget on STT takes debit cards. you will have to pay extra for the full coverage insurance.
kirk

ccamp wrote:Don't know if it would work but what about your folks giving you a prepaid VISA or AMExp card? You can check and see if the rental companies would take that...

Most of the companies I have talked to don't do pre-paid, debit or bank cards. I'll check that out a bit more.

Thanks

kirk wrote:I believe budget on STT takes debit cards. you will have to pay extra for the full covage insurance.
kirk

Thanks Kirk!
That may well work. I'll give them a call.

Peter

Is there any reason why you cannot/don't want to get a credit card? Check with your bank, the one who has issued you a debit card. As long as your track record with the bank is solid and your credit rating isn't horrible, you should qualify for a credit card. You don't HAVE to use it, just keep is as a back up and for situations such as this.

As the person using the card, you have certain protection when using a credit card vs. a debit card. Couple of examples, one of my kids once got charged $77 instead of $7 at a subway on his debit card, operators finger moved a little slow I guess... he didn't notice at the time of the transaction and had to go to some effort to get his money back... credit card it would be one phone call to protest and you're done... another kid had a plane ticket charged on now defunct Skybus on a credit card, just call the credit card company and dispute the charge since you didn't get the service/item you paid for and it's the card company's problem... if it's on debit it's YOUR problem and you won't necessarily get your money back...

My understanding is the car company won't take a debit card since it could be linked to a bank account with nothing in it, if you have an accident, owe them something, they go to charge, and may get nothing.

Personally, I charge most of my expenses on a credit card to get kickbacks and a little float on my money, interest isn't much these days but every little bit helps, and then pay it off each month to avoid paying on interest on it. I never use debit for the reasons outlined above.

I'll also add that I recently had my card number "stolen" somehow and illicit charges were coming in. I caught it quickly, canceled that card and got a replacement, credit card company credited my account for the charges in question. If it was a debit transaction that money might have been gone from my account forever...

irbgolfin

Are your parents going to pay for the rental with a credit card? If so, could they authorize the rental agency to use that card number as the "insurance" against damage?

How much "damage deposit" are they looking for? You could get a traveler's check in that amount from your bank and leave it with the agency. When you return the car undamaged they give it back. You then take it back to your bank and re-deposit the money (less the fee). Yes, there's a risk someone there would walk off with it, but since a signature is required I don't think they could do much with it.

My recommendation would be to get a credit card in your name between now and then. I am definitely not advocating credit card debt! But establishing a credit history of paying off your credit card every month will help you down the road when you want to buy a home or get a loan for something else. You can control the limit if you want to make sure it's small; you can write "see ID" on the back signature panel so that no one else can sign for purchases with it; and you can get one that gives you frequent flier miles. I don't travel much for work anymore, so most of my miles come from credit card purchases.

Sorry if I sound preachy; I don't mean to be. I know there are good reasons why people don't want credit cards, but there are also some good reasons to get one.

PS - Congratulations!

AND THE WINNER IS!....

Kirk...We did check with Budget on STT and they do in fact take a debit card. The reqirement is, as Kirk had said, you need to take the full coverage insurance at $25 a day. I'm making the arrangements and the next hurdle will be to see if they have the vehicle we want. Thanks to everyone for all there usual willingness to help. You're all awesome. And again, a special thanks to Kirk. You've helped make our honeymoon planning much easier. I hope this info helps others with their trip plans.

I'm glad I was able to help. I knew they did take debit cards back in July of last year, as I was going to rent from them.
Kirk