Credit card balance

Roibeard

I am travelling to Ireland and hiring a car while there. All hire companies require a credit card (debit card not acceptable) to hold a deposit against. My CC does not have enough on it (trying to pay it off) but I have enough savings that I can transfer to the CC for the period of time there. Is this possible? Would there be a charge?

InsideInsurance

Are you sure they wont? Never asked re debit cards and just handed one over and it was accepted no problems back in my days of low limited/ maxed out cards.

If you search in the travel section here this topic comes up frequently and there are a few suggestions of companies

Of cause you could get a pre-paid credit card

Roibeard

Ya called most of them and noticed in T&Cs it says Credit card only. I have rented before in Ireland and used Credit card but now I don't have enough to cover it and another card I have I have cut it up and thrown it away so I don't use it!!

Tixy

Do you mean you card does not have a sufficient limit? or that your card does not have enough space between the outstanding balance and the limit?

Atidi

Roibeard wrote: »

I am travelling to Ireland and hiring a car while there. All hire companies require a credit card (debit card not acceptable) to hold a deposit against. My CC does not have enough on it (trying to pay it off) but I have enough savings that I can transfer to the CC for the period of time there. Is this possible? Would there be a charge?

They only use a credit card as security - they don't actually take any money off it until the car is returned.

You can pay the final bill any way you prefer, usually.

Roibeard

Does not have enough between the outstanding balance and limt

antonymp

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Are you sure they wont? Never asked re debit cards and just handed one over and it was accepted no problems back in my days of low limited/ maxed out cards.

If you search in the travel section here this topic comes up frequently and there are a few suggestions of companies

Of cause you could get a pre-paid credit card

I'm not 100% sure but I think most car rental companies don't allow Pre-Paid Credit Card and have a block on them when used for that purpose.

Atidi

Roibeard wrote: »

I am travelling to Ireland and hiring a car while there. All hire companies require a credit card (debit card not acceptable) to hold a deposit against. My CC does not have enough on it (trying to pay it off) but I have enough savings that I can transfer to the CC for the period of time there. Is this possible? Would there be a charge?

Roibeard wrote: »

Does not have enough between the outstanding balance and limt

If you have spare cash, why are you paying extortionate interest rates on credit card balances?

Use it to reduce your debt, now!

(In the unlikley event you have an interest free offer on the credit card at present, you should not be using it for additional purchases, else you'll be paying dearly for them)

Roibeard

Hi Atidi

When I say spare cash I am talking enough to cover the deposit, not enough to clear my debt. Trust me I am working hard to clear my debt and regularly read and seek advise on here to assist me in that. Thanks for your advise though.

Tixy

Yes you could use savings to reduce the amount you owe on your card.

However the only way to effectively take this money back from the card would be either
-cash advance - costly in terms of both cash machine withdrawal fees and usually a higher rate of interest
-money transfer to your current account if your card offers them to you (incurring a money transfer fee and interest at the money transfer interest rate whatever that may be for the card)
-using the card for future purchases and then using the resulting money saved in your current account to put back in to savings.

But if you have savings and can afford to pay £X off the card then surely it is better to do so, and not then try to borrow it back off the card again?

As another option - have you tried asking your card provider for an increased credit limit.

Atidi

Roibeard wrote: »

Hi Atidi

When I say spare cash I am talking enough to cover the deposit, not enough to clear my debt. Trust me I am working hard to clear my debt and regularly read and seek advise on here to assist me in that. Thanks for your advise though.

You don't need to pay off the whole credit card bill in one go if you can't afford it.

Just paying as much as you can as and when you can afford it will still result in significant savings.

Otherwise you are borrowing money at perhaps 20%, 30%, 40% or more and lending it to the bank who probably pay you less than 0.5% for it.