How to Travel Without a Credit Card

When my wife and I went on our honeymoon, neither of us owned a credit card, and we ran head-on into both of these issues. For a while, we were really worried about what we were going to do.

Finally, we came up with, honestly, a lame solution. But it worked.

My dad and I have the same first name. We don’t, however, have the same middle name, so I’m not technically a “Junior.” However, we had a feeling that most places wouldn’t be looking at the middle name on a credit card that closely to see if it matched the middle name on my driver’s license.

So, with that hope, my dad let us take his credit card with us.

I remember feeling a lot of anxiety as I was walking up to the rental car agency desk. We were over 1,300 miles from home. What if they noticed the name discrepancy between the card and my driver’s license and canceled the reservation.

That would NOT be a good way to start a honeymoon!

Thankfully, it all worked out. It never was an issue throughout the entire trip, and we just transferred the money from our bank account to my dad’s to pay him back for the hotel and rental cars.

But while our story had a happy ending, we went through a lot of stress all along the way – all because we didn’t own a credit card. Why?

Why Hotels and Rental Car Agencies Want You to Have A Credit Card

If you are someone who doesn’t own a credit card, but you do own a debit card, you may feel flabbergasted (like we did) that the hotels and rental car agencies treat you as a “lower-class” customer, when you are the one who wants to pay them with actual money in your bank! I mean, “Come on, what’s wrong with these people!”

Well, while I certainly understand your pain, there is actually a method behind the madness of today’s credit card-dependent travel industry. And it’s one of those unfortunate scenarios where the few crooks and dirtbags of the world ruin the fun for all the rest of us.

It all boils down to how incidentals, extra costs and fees, and damages will be covered. With a debit card, there is no guarantee that you have enough money sitting in your bank account to cover these things.

The hotels and car agencies want to know that they will be compensated if you:

• Get in an accident
• Damage the room or furniture in the room
• Don’t fill up the gas tank before drop-off
• Use the non-complimentary room amenities (like the mini-bar or pay-per-view movies)
• Run up a room service bill
• Steal the car (please don’t do this)

While you undoubtedly would never dream of doing any of these things, there most certainly are people that would if there was an opportunity to do so. As we all know too well, con artists are masters at finding loopholes and exploiting them.

So, this is the problem that travel companies face with accepting debit cards as the form of payment for reservations. And to be honest, no one has been able yet to come up with a perfect solution to this problem.

So, until then, just know that in order to book a car or room without a credit card, you can just about take it to the bank that it will require more effort and forethought.

Sorry. If you were looking for an article that was going to give you a “simple, easy, way!” to do these things, this isn’t the article for you.

But, here’s the good news – with a little extra work (or hassle) it can be done!

How to Book a Hotel Without a Credit Card

Option 1- Use your debit card

Most hotels will allow you to use a Visa or Mastercard branded debit card as your form of security for the room.

However, you need to be aware that many (if not most) hotels will place a fully-refundable hold on your bank account.

The hold is usually per night but could be one flat rate for the entire stay. Each hotel varies as to how much of a hold they place.

If you are worried about having enough money in your checking account to cover the hold, then I would recommend calling up the hotel and asking them what their hold policy is. Ask them directly, “How much of a hold do you place per night?” If the hold is higher than you are comfortable with, then you may want to try a different hotel with a more reasonable hold policy.

Option 2- Use cash

If you call up the hotel beforehand and speak with one of the managers, you may be able to work out a deal to use cash as your form of security, which, again, you would receive back at the end of your stay.

Just like with the debit card, there’s a good chance that the hotel will ask for a pretty hefty cash amount, so don’t be surprised.

Option 3- Use a family member or friend’s card as security

This is very similar to the situation I described during our honeymoon, but a little more…uhh…above board, shall we say.

In certain situations where a guest does not have a debit card or credit card or doesn’t have enough money in their bank to cover the hold, the hotel will allow them to fax over some paperwork that will authorize someone else’s card to be used as security for the reservation.

This would be my least favorite of the 3 options.

I would only move to this option if the hotel I was going to stay at had refused to accept a debit card or cash as security. However, it is something that technically can be done to get past the credit card “firewall” at hotels, so I felt it wouldn’t be right to exclude it.

How to Book a Rental Car Without a Credit Card

Option 1- Use your debit card

Unfortunately, booking a hotel without a hotel without a credit card is going to seem like a walk in the park compared to renting a car.

Let me start with the good news: a large number of rental car agencies have finally, in recent years, started to allow debit cards to be used for reservations (click here to see each company’s debit card policy). This is big news, as it used to be simply impossible to find an agency who would let you rent a car without a credit card on file.

Now, for the bad news. If you do end up finding an agency that will let you use a debit card for your rental, they are going to put you through a LOT more work. Like an, “Am I being background checked for the Secret Service or booking a rental car?” amount of work.

Additionally, there are typically lots of restrictions that are slapped on as well. Every rental car company is different, but here are some of the things you may deal with when using a debit card for your car rental:

• Identity verification (utility bills, not past due, and most recent pay stub matching address on driver’s license)
• Credit check
• Minimum debit card hold requirements for security deposit (could go as high as $350)
• Proof of round trip travel
• Residency restrictions
• Car class restrictions
• Mileage restrictions
• Geography/Boundary restrictions
• Proof of insurance
• Additional driver restrictions

Option 2- Use a Paypal Debit Card Hack

I cannot personally vouch for this method, but Dana Sitar, over at The Penny Hoarder has written a how-to article on using a PayPal Business MasterCard Debit Card to sidestep having to use a credit card at rental car agencies.

To be completely honest, it seems like a lot of work if you were going to only use the card for this one purpose. However, if you were going to continue to use the card in the future, then I could see it being worth the time.

Also, if you are someone who is not in a place financially where you would feel comfortable having up to $350 tied up in your checking account for the duration of your trip, this could be a great option for you. Why?

According to Dana’s explanation, this PayPal debit card hack tricks the system in a way that causes the money to never actually leave your account.

I know it sounds a little crazy, but I would definitely recommend checking out her article.

If you end up going for it, I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments! Let me know if it really works and if it’s something that you’d recommend to others.

Good luck, my credit card-free friends, and happy travels!