Question about renting with a debit card
 

Hi, I've been a pretty frequent renter the last couple years at Budget and I've never had any problems renting with my debit card. I rented a car at the STL airport today though which is where I usually rent and before when they authorized my card no funds were ever actually held or taken out of my bank account. When I returned the car I would either let them run the charges on the card I reserved it with or sometimes I would pay with a different card. Anyway, tonight when I rented I checked my bank balance afterwards and was shocked to see $500 was actually put on hold and is unavailable to me until I return the car or the hold expires. Is this a new policy? Before I think they checked to see if the funds were available but now they are actually putting a hold on them... very inconvenient.

Jeff

You got "lucky" in the past. Think about it, if they didn't put a hold on your debit or credit card for the estimated cost of the rental, how would they have any security that the fees would be paid other than your "cross my heart"? Just cause you have room on your card at the time of rental, doesn't mean you're not goin go out and charge a wide screen tv with nothing available on your card by the time you return the car...

This happens on many other debit card transactions as well, most commonly at the gas pump. The hold-time is much shorter so most folks don't even notice.