Hi,
Need a definitive answer on whether Flex can be used to hire a car for deposit holds/pre authorisation abroad as you would a normal credit card.
Thanks.
Yes.
(but don’t, use a normal credit card)
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Yes it can, but it’s not the best way.
Depending on how long your rental will last, and how long the rental company will take to refund the auth hold, you may need to pay at least the first installment from your own cash.
Flex is not like a credit card in this respect; pre-auths are still fully charged to your account and payable just like any purchase. With a normal credit card, a pre-auth that is not settled is not included in next month’s payment and does not accrue interest (AFAIK), so it’s always best to use a normal credit card to for the pre-auth/deposit.
You can of course use Flex for the actual payment of the rental charges.
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Thanks - that makes sense. Rental is only for a week. I’m choosing Flex because it was already set up and I’ve just requested a physical card. I don’t want to be adding further credit accounts to my credit file - not a fan of it.
True but be mindful of what @Revels says. I hired a car which I returned (unscathed) on the 2nd and it’s still got the hold on my card. Now, this doesn’t really matter with HSBC except it slightly reduces my limit.
With Flex a whole different story meaning that it would still be there as “money owed” and it would expect payment. A bit ridiculous but then it is a BNPL card with S75 not a real credit card (Personal opinion, YMMV)
So just be mindful of that.
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Flex is great, but no matter how much people want it to be, it’s not a real credit card. It has some advantages and some disadvantages.
Get one of each. I wouldn’t let a made up number from a credit scoring company who are in the business of selling you things dictate whether or not you had a second card.
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