got any bright ideas? Im about to panic

[itsdisneytime]

You guys are awesome! Such savvy smart folks and which is why I heed the very well given advise I get from here.

I am soo thrilled to say that I found a solution to my dilemma. I found Avis car rental only will put a $200 hold on the cc regardless of what the rental rate is. I was able to get them to match my Dollar rental rate for the mid size SUV thanks to the great advise of someone on here (sorry as I'm typing this I cant remember your log on name to give you proper thanks). I am also happy to say that I also did get the cc company to increase my spending limit - (well they are in the process) ... as someone nicely pointed out here -- I have shown myself that I can live on cash only and that the cc is no longer a necessity and should it become one or an EMERGENCY .. i WILL be able to have a little (not much) larger balance to help me out.

I am humbled at how sincere you all are and how you all took the time to help me out. I have not been on here to check in a few days but I surely do thank you all!

 

[grimley1968]

You guys are awesome! Such savvy smart folks and which is why I heed the very well given advise I get from here.

I am soo thrilled to say that I found a solution to my dilemma. I found Avis car rental only will put a $200 hold on the cc regardless of what the rental rate is. I was able to get them to match my Dollar rental rate for the mid size SUV thanks to the great advise of someone on here (sorry as I'm typing this I cant remember your log on name to give you proper thanks). I am also happy to say that I also did get the cc company to increase my spending limit - (well they are in the process) ... as someone nicely pointed out here -- I have shown myself that I can live on cash only and that the cc is no longer a necessity and should it become one or an EMERGENCY .. i WILL be able to have a little (not much) larger balance to help me out.

I am humbled at how sincere you all are and how you all took the time to help me out. I have not been on here to check in a few days but I surely do thank you all!

I offer a) congrats on finding a solution, and b) much bigger congrats on your self discipline in getting your finances under control! That is something I hope you are proud of. You should be. Doing that in an economy this bad is even more to your credit, and will be a "gift that keeps on giving" when the economy picks up again (and then in the next downturn), as you'll eventually have a tidy savings cushion (if you don't already).

To help you keep on this path, someone else has mentioned using Quicken. That's a good product, but they discontinued their free online version of that sometime ago (they used to have a great iPhone app). Intuit's Mint Online basically took over Quicken Online. I tried Mint, but it had a lot of flaws (especially their app), so I gave it up. Now I use a google docs spreadsheet to keep track of my register (running balance, future balance, spending categories, etc.) and it works well, though not as user-friendly as some other products (paid or free). But I preferred the ability to customize it to my needs, and give me a true and dynamic snapshot of our net worth. I never got to the point where I needed a financial advisor or credit help, but I basically live cash-only now (well, I use a debit card a lot but that is straight out of my bank account), and I've gotten rid of some pretty onerous debt this way.

Good luck to you in the future with this. I know it's hard sometimes, but you'll be much better off in the long run.

 

[JB2K]

What about getting a new 'pre-paid' credit card? We can go to our bank, give them '$x' and get a credit with that balance (minus I think $3 for every $100 you put on the card). The card functions a credit card. So you put $350 (plus whatever fee) on the card, use that as your rental car deposit. After your trip, when they release the remainder of the deposit, you use that money for whatever.

Prepaid cards with the MC/Visa logo on the front (such as those sold by GreenDot) cannot be accepted for car rentals or pay-at-the-pump gas purchases.

It specifically says so in the fine print of those cards.