Renting a car in USA! I have already paid but they want my credit card! Do i have to have a $$$ available?

I will have some credit available which i would use for shopping but if car rental company want to "hold" a certain amount against my card, that will mean i dont have enough available %26amp; also less to spend!





How does it work?|||They have to be able to hold the full amount of the rental on your credit card at the time of pick up (most companies have a minimum hold of between $200-$300). This amount will be released when you return the rental, but will be unavailable for the period of the rental.|||i have never found this a problem ,, its just incase you dont return the car or return it damaged ,, they dont touch your money or anything ,,, you will be safe ,,, have a great holiday|||Your card must be produced and the details taken when you pick the car up as a guarantee for damage etc.If you do not produce your credit card they will ask for a penalty cash lump sum to be paid before you take the car away.Should you complete the trip and hand the car back you will then get back the slip,should the car be in the same condition,there are slight variations on this process of course.It is normal procedure and nothing to worry about,you can still spend what you intended.|||The last answer is somewhat correct. I recently went on vacation and almost ran out of money cause of a similar answer. So here it is as explained to me by my bank in my situation:





I have a Visa DEBIT Card. DEBIT being the key word.





If you use a DEBIT card, Visa or Mastercard are only allowing there servers to access your local bank. There is in no way any credit extended. Meaning what you have is what you have. No More and No Less. A DEBIT card hold will physically remove the amount requested until the requestor manually releases the funds (hotel and rental car deposits as well as several other types of transactions).





What this means is if you have $500 in your Visa DEBIT account and say ABC Car rental states the hold will be $150, you will now only have $350 when you check the ATM. Do not believe what the person at the counter says cause you will be screwed and know one willhelp you.





Also another caution is do not assume when you return the car or check out you now have that money. You do not, they must confirm everything is in order and then usually their main office will do the release several days later. It is safe to assume that money will not be back in your account for at least 7 days, more realistic 14-21 days.





Remember this is for Bank issued DEBIT/VISA cards. If you have a "TRUE" credit card you will need to contact the issuer directly. Some credit card companies will honor a "hold" on your behalf and not reduce you credit line as long as the hold is not equal to or greater than 50% of your avail. credit line. However more and more companies are no longer doing this (and almost all sub-prime lenders treat a hold as a purchase). Also if it is handled as a purchase the release on certain cards can take up to 45 days.