Credit Cards - 3 Things You Didn’t Know, You Didn’t Know

PAYING by PLASTIC in NEW ZEALAND - There is plenty of advice on exchange fee’s, effective concealment when on the road etc… But here are three situations that can really derail your holiday and leave you up that proverbial creek or billabong.

1) The Doozie: This is a crowd stopper and could stop your holiday in its tracks.

If you use your Visa or MasterCard debit card for the car, motorbike or motorhome bond, be warned - they don’t just take an imprint, like they do with a credit card, they swipe it and put a freeze on your funds for the duration of your hire or stay. This reduces the amount of funds available to you and if unaware of this it could seriously limit the amount of funds you have at your disposal. However, if you use a credit card, they will only take an imprint. And you can only use your own credit card - third Party credit cards are not accepted. If the renter does not hold a credit card, they will be required to leave a deposit in cash. Cash deposits are only accepted on specific car classes and at specific locations. 

2) Catastrophe!! My Card Doesn’t Work

Your credit or debit card is not working??? A number of travelers have tried to use their cards overseas only to find their bank has stopped it, fearing fraudulent use. No bank insists on customers telling it when they go abroad, but while some will contact customers when they see a possible problem others see the need to stop cards first and ask questions later. The best way to guard against this is to inform your bank if you plan to use your card when you go away.  That way they won't think it's suspicious activity. It is also smart to hold some cash in reserve, either as traveler's cheques or hard currency.

3) The Significant Other

If you travel with someone, especially a husband or wife, I would make sure you travel with individual credit cards in separate names. The reason for this is simple. Many families have one credit card issued to them. Many families have one credit card account number and have individual cards issued to each person. The problem with this is if one person was to lose their credit card, the others person's credit card would be canceled also. You may have to wait three to five days to receive another. By each traveler having his or her own separate credit card, if one was lost, you could survive on the other credit card for a few days until the other is replaced.