i don't feel comfortable faxing my CC info - is this common when renting a villa?

[loriandmatt]

we are looking into renting a villa and on the rental agreement we have been asked to provide our CC info and fax the form back to them. it is stated that they need this info just in case there is any damage/ loss to the property, as they do not ask for an up front deposit.

i am cool with their reason, but not cool faxing my CC info.

is that standard? or not? just seems unsafe to me. should i ask if i could call and speak with someone and give them that info over the phone?

am i just being overly cautious?

i am stressing way too much over this villa rental. it is such foreign territory for me. the rates are great for the space you get, but until i get more comforatable with the details - i am stressing big time. starting to think i just should have stayed onsite. Do they have a worry wart smilie i could insert here?!?!?

 

[hlbrink]

We had to do this as well. We reserved our townhouse a year ago (for next week), so the owner has had our info for some time and nothing has happened. I wasn't so worried about faxing my info but I was worried about providing it to a person (not a corporation).

I would assume if you faxed the info and it somehow made it to someone other than the intended recipient, you wouldn't be held liable for fraudulent charges past the standard $50. But, I'm not a CC expert!

If it is the faxing that you are worried about, I would let the owner know in advance it was on the way, get a transmission confirmation from the fax you are using and ask the owner to immediately inform you of receipt.

Good luck!

 

[4Seasons]

What I do when booking a reservation for a client and they are uncomfortable with faxing the complete information, I have them fill out everything on the form except for the last 4 digits of the code, the security card and expiration date. Then I call them (or they call me) and the remainder of the information is given to me over the phone.
Maybe you can do that.

 

[MousekaMaddi]

great advice

 

[4Seasons]

Sorry double post.

 

[loriandmatt]

i am most comfortable with 4Season's suggestion. thanks so much for all the input.

i will e-mail them and see if they can live with this compromise.

 

[KayR]

Another option is to copy the form and then blank out some of the information on one form and DIFFERENT information on the other form. Then fax or scan&email in two separate faxes / emails.

Kay

 

[tasha99]

I wasn't so worried about faxing my info but I was worried about providing it to a person (not a corporation).

Yet most times that you give your credit card number to a corporation, it's going through a person. When I worked at Royal Caribbean, it was a fireable offense to write down a credit card number (as opposed to typing it into the computer). You just know they had this rule because at one time or another, someone must have written down a few numbers to use later.

 

[KayR]

If you are concerned, make sure you are sending the information directly to the person that has the merchant account. You have to be vetted and approved to be a merchant and sign up to terms and condition.

Some owners use their Management Company's merchant account for credit cards, some use paypal and others have their own merchant account.

-Kay