> Also, some businesses, such as car rental companies, won't provide services to debit card holders.
In America, yes. Not really a thing in Europe, at least not in any places I’ve been to.
In America, yes. Not really a thing in Europe, at least not in any places I’ve been to.
In the US, the rental agreements let them keep charging you the daily rental fee until the amount collected exceeds the value of the car.
Your issuer is only liable for the few hundreds of dollars that the rental car company has authorized; beyond that, it's still their (or their insurance's) loss.
The only practical difference is that you're not out that money on your checking account for a few days, which can indeed be inconvenient – but arguably that's not really the rental car agency's problem?
The issuer can also sell that debt (daily rental up to car value) to a debt collector.
It’s probably to avoid lending the car to higher risk demographics.
It’s a test.
The rental car company basically loses fewer cars overall and thus has lower insurance premiums, and thus can offer cars cheaper than other rental companies that do not require a credit card (if any even still exist?) that have higher premiums to pay.
Which unfortunately creates all kinds of false-positives, like making it very hard for tourists from countries where credit cards are not commonly used to rent a car…
That said, you’d think they’ve considered exceptions based on your passport?