Can Visa Check cards be used at resorts rather than traditional visa cards?

[Dis2times]

TIA

Lisa

 

[gingermommy94]

Absolutely! That's all that we used on our last trip..from reserving our room to paying for food and all the rest. Never had any problems.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

When using the Visa Checkcard - are you able to "charge" to your room key. Do you have to post a traditional Visa as back-up? Do you have to leave a deposit. Me and DH prefer to travel w/ the Checkcard we just like to have the feeling that the trip is paid for and we won't overspend. TIA!

 

[KilleriMac17]

the only thing you may want to check on, is if your visa check card has a daily limit, some debit cards do, which can mess things up. we have debit card, but for room charging we put down cash instead, since my card only allows $350 a day, and with the room charge,I heard they dont actually charge the card until $500(which would be denied on my card even if I had the $)

 

[gingermommy94]

We left them our Debit card number and at check-in they never asked for any other credit cards and still proceeded to explain that we could use our room key to charge back to our room, etc.

Our debit card doesn't have a daily limit..only if we want to go to an ATM and take out cash..then there's a $350 limit on cash withdrawls. Otherwise we can charge whatever we want and still get cash out of the ATM if we want it.

Edited to add... If you're unsure of your debit card limits, if any, I'd suggest calling your bank, they will be able to tell you.

 

[Empire Day]

If you do have a limit, most banks will remove it if you ask and let them know thats what we do as the debit is 200 the visas unlimited but @ 500 and if you use it at the airport or other places they sometimes (learned on a cruise) will denie it as they think someone else is having a vacation on you!

 

[Kimickey]

I know this thread is about using you Visa Check card but I just wanted to add...That we use our Mastercard Check card and have never had any problems using our card of room charging privelges. The CM always ask us if we want to put a CC down for room charges, we tell them yes, we hand them either DH or my Check card and they do an authorization for a $1000 dollars which ties up $1000 in our account for about 24 hours, then the hold is released. My bank allows $2000 for credit purchases and $1000 for debit purchases per day. You may want to check with your bank to see what their limit is per day. If you need more than the limit, ask them to extend your limit for you, usually its no problem.

 

[Kira'sMom]

Hi,

Kimickey- can you explain how this works again- I didn't do well on my SATs

Is this right - you give your credit card or debit card to the hotel (in our case POR) and tell them to charge $1,000 and then WDW puts a "hold" on that amount of money until you spend it completely? Or do they hold the card and just charge you when you check out (like other hotels). I guess what I'm asking is why WDW is charging you before you spend the money. Or are they?

Please help me understand how it works with credit and debit cards.

TIA

 

[Kermit]

Regardless of if you give them a credit or debit card, they just run a test $1 transaction to make sure the account is good.

You charge things to your room the whole time you're there. Late at night the last night you're there, or when you reach a predetermined limit (I think it's $500 for values, $1000 for moderates, and $1500 for deluxes), whichever comes first, they run one big transaction for the amount. If they ran the transaction because you reached the limit and you're still on your trip, it's not a problem. You just start over. They just want to be sure they won't ever be out more than $1500.

If you continue to use your room key after they run the transaction your last night, they'll do one more transaction after midnight that includes your new purchases.

 

[Mitzi]

Do you have to give them either if your not planning on charging to your room? If you have to give them something is there a predetermined amt..or do you yourself determine the amt ?

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

A couple things to note:

When the CM swipes the card to activate charging privledges, nothing is charged to the card. The computer just puts a hold on $1 to verify that the account is valid. You may use any card (Debit, gift card, credit card) as long as it has the Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover logo on it. Disney also accepts JCB, Diners Club, and maybe one more.

Your card is not charged until you reach your resort credit limit, or if you come close to it. Depending on the classification of the resort, the credit limit can change.

One thing to note... if your bank has a limit to the amount you can use your debit card per day, and your resorts limit exceeds the one set by the bank, there is a way around it. Two, actually.

The first, is to monitor your charges... For example, you have a $350/day limit. You can then call the front desk on your phone (or visit the front desk) and each day as needed, you authorise them to make a $350 payment (regardless of if your balance exceeds that... you can also have them take a payment that exceeds your current balance)

The other way is to have the resort change your credit limit to whatever your bank limit is. (yes, this is possible... they can lower it, just not raise it)

 

[Kira'sMom]

Thanks for the info. It really helps to know how the whole thing works. It will also be nice to not have to carry around a lot of extra cash or get a bunch of traveler's cheques this time around. Since, we're doing the dining plan, this will really simplify things.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

By the way... just so you know, you can also use Traveller's Cheques to set up debit based charging privledges. Also, although you need a credit card to be on file to have true credit based charging privledges, they don't have to be paid by the card on file. You can always stop down to the desk at any time and make a cash or travellers/person check based payment towards what you might have charged.

 

[cbusby]

There are some banks have policies when they see alot of charges going thru during a particular time.............will cut the card off. Basically to protect you (they're not certain if your card is stolen or not). You might want to notify the bank and let them know you will charging at WDW.