Gas pumps, hotels, and rental counters often hold more on your card than you’ll end up spending, and on a debit card that hold can lock up real money in your checking account for days. Hand over a credit card wherever holds are common, so the hold ties up credit instead of cash.
On a weekend trip, a $150 hold at the pump and a $300 hold at the hotel can freeze $450 of your checking money at once. A check or automatic payment that clears in the meantime can overdraw the account and cost you a fee, even though the money never left it.
Visa and Mastercard let a gas station hold up to $175 when you pay at the pump, and the hold can last for days. A hotel can hold an estimate of your bill plus incidentals, often until several days after checkout. At the rental counter, Hertz may hold up to $500 on top of the estimated charges, and Enterprise says the refund of a debit card deposit generally arrives within 15 to 20 business days.
A credit card takes the same hold out of your available credit, so your checking balance never moves. The card that carries the hold doesn’t have to pay the bill, either. Georgia’s attorney general advises giving the hotel or rental counter a credit card at check-in for any stay or rental longer than a day, then paying the final bill with debit if you prefer.
When you have to use debit, plan around the holds.
- Before you leave, keep a cushion in checking at least as large as the holds you expect.
- At the pump, run the card as debit with your PIN, since a PIN-debit hold should clear within minutes. If the pump has no PIN pad, prepay a set amount inside, and you’re charged exactly that, with no hold.
- At check-in, ask how much the hotel or rental counter will hold and which card will carry it.
Whenever a merchant doesn’t know your final bill yet, hand it a credit card.
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