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JREF Credit Card

Geek Goddess said:
You realize it's extremely difficult to travel on business without a credit card, right? Not impossible, just very difficult. Plane tickets, hotel bills, meals, rental cars. In fact, I think most rental car companies won't even accept cash anymore,and if you use a debit card (rather than credit card), they take a large security deposit which is not refunded for several days.
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I've always wondered how one books a flight without a credit card? Do you just go to the airport and pay by cash or check? I guess you could go to a travel agent too, as long as you're not flying Southwest. Seems like a heck of a lot of hassle.
 
For air travel, most hotels, and almost all rental cars, you can pay with cash, but you have to make the reservations with a major credit card. The only easy way around this is to book everything through a travel agent and pay them with cash or a check.


ETA: And to the OP, since I now have a corporate card for my new job, I can finally destroy my Citibank card and pick up a nifty JREF CapitalOne card for personal use. Yippee!
 
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Geek Goddess said:
You realize it's extremely difficult to travel on business without a credit card, right? Not impossible, just very difficult. Plane tickets, hotel bills, meals, rental cars. In fact, I think most rental car companies won't even accept cash anymore,and if you use a debit card (rather than credit card), they take a large security deposit which is not refunded for several days.

A lot of businesses won't give their employees cash advances for travel any more, they expect you to use a card and turn in an expense account. When you travel internationally, you can use it without having to acquire local currency (often with fees or less-than-perfect exchange rates).

Condemn all you like, but people who misuse credit will be in that boat regardless of who gets a bit of a commission.
Click to expand...

This is interesting as here(Czech Republic) debit cards are still in vast majority and AFAIK credit cards are way underused. And since a lot of smaller shops don't accept cards (too high fees) we still have a lot of cash.

Banks are trying to change situation and get people to use credit cards,but so far not much of luck. I might try credit card,but is this("JREF") card even available for my country? (I didn't find it there)

(FTR: So far I refused all offers on credit cards as it is considered bad idea to get unnecessary debt and it is preffered to do "credit-less" payment only and there were no advantages for me - when I don't have enough on something,I won't have enough to settle credit)
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
I've always wondered how one books a flight without a credit card? Do you just go to the airport and pay by cash or check? I guess you could go to a travel agent too, as long as you're not flying Southwest. Seems like a heck of a lot of hassle.
Click to expand...

Airline cash tickets raise suspicion, because a cash transaction leaves less paper trail. The 9-11 hijackers, for instance, all paid cash for their tickets, IIRC. I once called the airline directly, and booked a ticket, with a credit card, while I was on my way to the airport, as I had a last-minute trip plan change and couldn't get near a computer. When I got my ticket, it was marked for a random 'extra security' check where I had my purse searched, a pat-down, etc. My co-worker, whose ticket I got at the same time, was also searched. When I asked about it, I was told that last-minute ticket purchases were usually flagged.

Klimax said:
This is interesting as here(Czech Republic) debit cards are still in vast majority and AFAIK credit cards are way underused. And since a lot of smaller shops don't accept cards (too high fees) we still have a lot of cash.

Banks are trying to change situation and get people to use credit cards,but so far not much of luck. I might try credit card,but is this("JREF") card even available for my country? (I didn't find it there)
Click to expand...

I primarily use my debit card. At car rentals, when you check out your car, they run a 'pending transaction' against your card to see if you have enough credit to cover the expected cost. if you try to use a debit card, as I mentioned, they debit the expected amount of your car rental plus some additional amount. It used to be somewhere in the range $250-$400. When you. Their idea is that if you use a debit card, and then return your card and have no money in your account, they are stuck. After you return your car, they will credit the amount back, but it's not instantaneous, it can take several days. The rental companies have signs about this, but they are easy to overlook.

I was in line behind some people renting a car with a debit card, and was held up behind them for quite a while. Apparently they didn't have enough in their account to cover the extra deposit, and were arguing that by the time they returned the car, they'd have a paycheck deposited in the account. I felt sorry for them, they were traveling for a funeral or some family issue, and were stuck at the airport. :(

I also worked with a guy who had declared bankruptcy at one time and had no credit cards. When he went on business travel, he had to drive because he couldn't rent a car, even though it was half-way across the US. Even though employers often issue credit cards for business use of their employees, they typically will run a credit report before they issue you one, since they are responsible for what you charge.
 
Geek Goddess said:
...
I primarily use my debit card. At car rentals, when you check out your car, they run a 'pending transaction' against your card to see if you have enough credit to cover the expected cost. if you try to use a debit card, as I mentioned, they debit the expected amount of your car rental plus some additional amount. It used to be somewhere in the range $250-$400. When you. Their idea is that if you use a debit card, and then return your card and have no money in your account, they are stuck. After you return your car, they will credit the amount back, but it's not instantaneous, it can take several days. The rental companies have signs about this, but they are easy to overlook.
Click to expand...
It won't immediatly tell them that account associated with debit card is empty? I once tried to pay by debit while account was empty and it didn't let me continue.

Or do they sort of register card and debit it later?(that could be;I never had to rent a car - trains go fortunately in every destination I need and where not bus goes)

I was in line behind some people renting a car with a debit card, and was held up behind them for quite a while. Apparently they didn't have enough in their account to cover the extra deposit, and were arguing that by the time they returned the car, they'd have a paycheck deposited in the account. I felt sorry for them, they were traveling for a funeral or some family issue, and were stuck at the airport. :(

I also worked with a guy who had declared bankruptcy at one time and had no credit cards. When he went on business travel, he had to drive because he couldn't rent a car, even though it was half-way across the US. Even though employers often issue credit cards for business use of their employees, they typically will run a credit report before they issue you one, since they are responsible for what you charge.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Was quite interesting.(Although sometimes about unfortunate people)
 
Klimax said:
It won't immediatly tell them that account associated with debit card is empty? I once tried to pay by debit while account was empty and it didn't let me continue.
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The car rental place was trying to charge not only the expected rental, but the 'deposit' as well. Which used to be about $250 to $400 US.
 
Klimax said:
Sorry, forgot to bold; I was refering to:
Click to expand...

She meant to say "return your car", not "return your card".

I other words, if they only take out the expected rental, say $300, and no "extra deposit", and you return your car with a big dent in the fender, they are stuck.
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
She meant to say "return your car", not "return your card".

I other words, if they only take out the expected rental, say $300, and no "extra deposit", and you return your car with a big dent in the fender, they are stuck.
Click to expand...

OK. Nice typo though as it looked like somebody would try to cancel the card/account... ;)
 
My credit rating is so bad, I couldn't get a card from the mafia. Guess I won't be having the JREF one :(
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
She meant to say "return your car", not "return your card".

I other words, if they only take out the expected rental, say $300, and no "extra deposit", and you return your car with a big dent in the fender, they are stuck.
Click to expand...

What he said...sloppy typo on my part
 
Debt culture is definitely different by country. Puerto Rico, for example, has a very low penetration for credit cards. US Retailers opening there need to be set up for debit cards.

CT
 
Geek Goddess said:
You realize it's extremely difficult to travel on business without a credit card, right? Not impossible, just very difficult. Plane tickets, hotel bills, meals, rental cars. In fact, I think most rental car companies won't even accept cash anymore,and if you use a debit card (rather than credit card), they take a large security deposit which is not refunded for several days.

A lot of businesses won't give their employees cash advances for travel any more, they expect you to use a card and turn in an expense account. When you travel internationally, you can use it without having to acquire local currency (often with fees or less-than-perfect exchange rates).

Condemn all you like, but people who misuse credit will be in that boat regardless of who gets a bit of a commission.
Click to expand...

All true, GG, and if someone wants an extra card for business use only , I guess this may be as good as any- but I don't KNOW that it is. The only time I tried this sort of thing was an AMEX credit card from a UK airline- you know the sort of thing- frequent flyer miles for every purchase. Turned out a surprising number of hotels -even other airlines- flatly refused to accept it. A waste of my time, another entry in Experian's database about my personal affairs and another load of papers in the mail and email spam. Thanks, but no thanks.
I reverted to one card, issued by my bank, (via Mastercard) which has never been refused anywhere. It gives me no special deals, but it works and is paid off by direct debit every month.
I think acquiring additional credit cards is something to be looked into carefully, not done on a whim. Your purchasing plans should be dictated by your needs and wants. Having a third party involved (Oh I'll just buy it- some of the money goes to JREF)- just complicates the issue.
I don't like being offered such cards and I'm a little surprised JREF would do this. I find it distasteful. That's a purely personal response. Darat doesn't. Maybe I'm old fashioned in this.

ETA- Most car hire firms will rent without a card if you show appropriate insurance and pay cash up front. But you're correct it will take a lot longer to sort out.
 
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SkepticScott said:
From what I've read, yes, they will break it out separately. I'll find out with my first statement.
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Unless you are given the option of keeping that 1% rather than donating it, there's no deduction allowed.

ETA: I haven't signed up for a card myself so haven't looked at the details of the offer.
 
If you click through to the offer, in the FAQs they tell you how you can claim the 1% instead of giving it to the charity, so it is an option.

ETA: I also read the reporting is quarterly, so I probably won't know how much I donated with my first statement.
 
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I'm not advocating anyone getting this card, or not. I have a company-issued mastercard that I use for business, and an American Express I use for nearly all my personal travel, and then my debit card.
 
SkepticScott said:
If you click through to the offer, in the FAQs they tell you how you can claim the 1% instead of giving it to the charity, so it is an option.

ETA: I also read the reporting is quarterly, so I probably won't know how much I donated with my first statement.
Click to expand...

Personally, I would just go ahead and deduct it. The odds of getting audited are small, and even then they may not even notice it, since it is such a small amount.
 
This card looks like better opportunity then what is offered by banks here.(But it appears that I am not definitly eligble as I am not in few countries were they operate)

14 to 25% rate looks better (at least short term I would need credit kart at all) then 20% average. No wonder credit cards are here unused...
 
Klimax said:
Looks like I misread rate on JREF card.

As for rates in Czech Republic,they are truly on average 20%. And they wonder why nobody wants them...
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You may not have misread it, I never looked at the application for the JREF card because I don't need a card, but ...wow on the interest rates.
 
Geek Goddess said:
You may not have misread it, I never looked at the application for the JREF card because I don't need a card, but ...wow on the interest rates.
Click to expand...

Maybe they were already adjusted for my location. ;)

And btw. those rates are common even for ordinary loans and such. (That is probably why we didn't have problems with banks and they only had their profits slightly falling...)
 
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