Traveling Without a Credit Card

[bumbershoot]

Hi All!

We are a family that does not use credit cards. If we don't have it in our checking account, we don't buy it.

FWIW, you can use a CC in the exact same way.


That said, in the days when hubby and I either could not get a CC or still should not have gotten a CC, we NEVER had a problem like the ones I hear about. Not even once. No double charges, no emergencies (of course, that's what the highest level of AAA was for, and I do have an emergency backup of a kind and generous brother/sis in law, though we never needed them), no hurricanes, snowstorms, not anything, not even once. (it was only after the CC was in our lives that we started wondering "is THIS an emergency?", which is an interesting bit of mental trickery)

You definitely do NOT have to tie a CC to the room, and even though we now have a CC (that we use as close to like a debit card as humanly possible), we rarely have room charging put on. It's just too easy to forget things, and I really like to keep and record all the charges we make.

That said, we like putting our budgeted money onto a gift card. Keep the receipt separate from the gift card and use the GC for your purchases and tips while at Disney. (most places, though not all, take them) The ATMs at Disney are Chase, which is very convenient for us.

 

[dzorn]

How in the world do you rent a car without a credit card?

If the debit card is compromised I would rather deal with it from a credit card than to find the money is missing from my account.

I would never travel without one emergencies happen.

Denise in MI

 

[cornflake]

How in the world do you rent a car without a credit card?

If the debit card is compromised I would rather deal with it from a credit card than to find the money is missing from my account.

I would never travel without one emergencies happen.

Denise in MI

I don't think you can - at least one major, national rental company I'm familiar with won't accept debit cards for rentals (yes, the cc-logo'ed ones, nonetheless).

That's the thing, I agree.

Even not ever planning to use it, I'd want to have it. What if you have some random sudden need to rent a car or book an emergency flight home or some other random unexpected thing happens on a day when your bank is closed and in another state and it's 2am, you know?

That said, while for some people it's better to not have the temptation of one, the Ramsey-esque 'credit cards are evil' stuff I think is just silly. If you can reliably pay it off and be responsible with it, you can make credit cards pay you for using them and get the benefits so many have mentioned with buyer protection, etc.

 

[Colleen27]

I think that's the issue. People either have experience not being able to manage their credit cards and don't want the temptation, or they are afraid that they will over spend with a credit card.

Or simply don't want any part of a system that is far more likely to hurt than to help. My first real exposure to credit cards was in college, when companies were lining up to issue high limit cards to friends with no income and mounting student loan debt simply because they were enrolled in college. That left a bad taste in my mouth about the whole industry, and as someone who has only used credit when absolutely necessary (student loans and mortgage, no consumer or car debt) I don't have the excellent credit score that it takes to get a no-annual-fee card and I refuse to pay for the privilege of plastic.

It really isn't that difficult to travel without a credit card. I may change my tune on that when we get into travelling outside of North America, but we've been all over the place, flown, driven, rented cars, stayed in everything from roadside motels to upscale resorts, and have managed just fine with our debit card.