Hertz- Paying with a debit card?

[j3nnifer]

My family is going on vacation the end of the month and i have a car reserved with hertz. I'm reading online about the credit checks they preform if you pay using a debit card. I'm credit isn't perfect at all. What are they looking for when checking your credit? I do have a car and credit cards (would pay using this but i don't have enough credit limit to cover everything)... Just want to know what to expect when i get there thanks!

 

[usnuzuloose]

I used my debit card and they just place a hold from your account I think it was 200 or 300. No credit check.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I would check with Hertz because they told us they do a credit check

 

[matdamom]

We flew into SFB on 4/29 and got a rental from Hertz through Hotwire. We used our debit card. The hold was $140. No credit check. It was very easy. We turned the car in the next day, and the hold was taken off Tuesday following (5/3).

 

[jlewisinsyr]

Credit checks are allowed for debit card users although use of them varies a lot by location.

That said, I would NEVER use a debit card to rent a car, especially one that is tied to your main source of funds. If something happens to the car (ie. damage), Hertz can (and most likely will) take the funds right out of the debit account (you give them permission to do this when you rent) to fix the car/damage (yes, insurance/coverages should apply but while this is worked out, Hertz will probably assess the damage directly).

I can also give you a more personal example of an issue with a debit card. My sister-in-law rented a car last September and thought she was doing a good thing by using her debit card (she didn't ask my opinion) and she went to withdraw money from her debit card 2 days later and it said insufficient funds for a fairly small withdrawal. Well after checking her online account, she found out that for some reason the Hertz system kept processing holds for the rental on her debit card, locking out her entire account balance (around $2,000). She immediately called Hertz who realized there was a problem, agreed to fix it, but explained it would take 3 - 5 days for the funds to become freed up, fortunately she could just transfer other money and she was with all of us. However, this could have been very problematic if she had paid her mortgage just before she left and this happened her check/transfer could have bounced, etc.

 

[hpfan100]

see if you can put the car rental on your cc to start and then when you return it you can switch to debit. Or if you have a Hertz gold account then debit will be no issue.

 

[kaytieeldr]

You can - or may be able to - use a credit card to rent the car, then use your debit card to actually pay for the rental when you return the car. You'll need enough credit on the CC to cover the rental, and you'll have to go to the counter when you bring the car back, so plan for extra return time.

And jlewisinsyr will legitimately advise you this isn't the smartest way to rent a car but it is an option.

 

[j3nnifer]

Debit card is really my only option at this point, the rental is 100.00 over my credit limit so even if i paid my card all the way off it wouldn't cover the total costs and you aren't allowed to split payments on cards.. It also says on the website that the card you present at the pickup is the one they charge for the rental.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

Debit card is really my only option at this point, the rental is 100.00 over my credit limit so even if i paid my card all the way off it wouldn't cover the total costs and you aren't allowed to split payments on cards.. It also says on the website that the card you present at the pickup is the one they charge for the rental.

You can change cards at time of return, I have swapped between my corporate card and personal card a few times.