• Using Bunq credit card for services (e.g. car rental)

Hello community,

Does anyone have experience with using a Bunq Mastercard for services that require a prior authorisation (like car rental agencies). Does this work with my Bunq card?

Quite a few car rental agencies have entries in their customer agreements stating that they do not accept debit cards or online credit cards (card without the actual card). Will this be a problem if I try to rent a car using my Bunq credit card?

Thanks for any insights you might have!

    @QNimbus#68157 Some companies accept it, some don't. It can work, but your deposit will be deducted from your account right away. Sometimes, when you return the car a second transaction is made so you have paid twice. The deposit whould be returned, but there are severla topics on Together were it took a long time before this happened and sometimes they needed to contact bunq support to get the money back.

    So if you have the option I would certainly pay for these things with a credit card and not bunqs debit card.

      Hi Bas,

      I have successfully rented a car twice with the bunq mastercard. One time with hertz NL and one time with sixt DE. Both where no problem, the only thing is that sixt tells on there website they don't except this, which i ignored. In both cases i had to pay € 500 as deposit when collecting the car. After returning the car i had de €500 back in within a week. So i guess if you try its no problem.

      Before renting i did call hertz to verify, they told me this should be no problem if the website reservation would succeed. Sixt i just ordered, when collecting the car they looked at the card and asked if it was debit, then i just had to pin a €500 deposit and was good to go.

        4 months later

        Ho prenotato e pagato a trieste con la nuova carta ‘credit’ , al momento del ritiro dell’auto mi dicono che la carta non è accettata, persi i soldi della prenotazione

          @Paolo-Olive-Badger#102485 Did they try to use the card at the terminal or did they just say no? Because the new Travel Card is like any other credit card for the merchant and so it should be accepted, if they also accept other Credit MasterCard's. Also may report the specific merchant at the bunq support.

            @johannes#102489 Because the new Travel Card is like any other credit card for the merchant

            Except it (suspiciously?) looks a bit unlike most others (vertical design, no number on the front, no signature field)

              @NiB#102510 No number on the front is suspicious? You saw the new Apple Card? Just because in the EU we are used to fancy printed numbers and signature fields doesn't mean it is normal in other countries :-)

                @johannes#102511 Just because in the EU we are used to fancy printed numbers and signature fields doesn't mean it is normal in other countries

                Please name just three banks anywhere in the world (besides bunq and Goldman) that have neither "printed numbers" (on the front) nor signature fields on their cards. 😉

                They are features that clerks have been taught and trained for many, many years to spot as security features. See this example from a European acquirer, just three years old, from 2016. I maintain that that's what's considered a "normal" Mastercard throughout the world - and still is "normal" today.

                Quite some credit card companies worldwide still require credit cards to be embossed, I quoted numerous reports just a couple of days ago somewhere on Together.

                I do agree however that Apple's Cards as well as consumer payment devices / smartphones have greatly paved the way for acceptance of "non-traditional" payment devices and will continue to do so. Will probably be a non-issue in a couple of years.

                Still, for today, bunq's physical card designs on the Travel Card - are not optimised for maximum acceptance at merchants. Maybe even less so on the Travel Card (with the sole exception of the word of credit). Had they done so, optimised them for maximum acceptance, the cards would feature a horizontal design with embossed letters and signature field. So they're still a bit ahead of the curve in their designs, in my opinion - which, just to be clear, certainly isn't "wrong" in my book 🙂 (it's just something to be aware of)

                  @NiB#102556 Both at the same time is not that common, true, but I don't really think that the numbers on the back are a huge problem, I would think that it would be more of a problem if they wouldn't be there at all :-) The signature field could be something, when a company does a non PIN payment. But Credit is Credit (it is even printed on the card and chipped that way) and I also never got any issue with my Debit Mastercard because of the numbers on the back.

                    I have a rental car reserved for next week, and I was thinking about paying the deposit with the bunq Travel Card. However, what NiB is saying is specified in the rental agreement they sent me:

                    "This company will not accept prepaid, recharge or virtual credit cards – or any card on which the relevant characters are not raised (‘embossed’)."

                    It seems pretty clear that the bunq Travel Card will not get accepted, at least in Budget.

                    Why do not opt for a more traditional approach for a card that was specifically targeted at car rentals and hotels, that take this kind of things very seriously?

                      @Juan-Navy-Kiwi#102727 It seems pretty clear that the bunq Travel Card will not get accepted, at least in Budget

                      Still worth to try, in my opinion.
                      It‘s not always as clearcut as the standard text blocks suggest.

                      ;)

                        20 days later

                        @QNimbus#68157 Another datapoint - successfully rented a car from Sixt today in the US, using the Travel Card. It was just treated as any other credit card without issue 👍

                          @smyles#109218 Nice! Thanks for sharing 😊

                          @Juan-Navy-Kiwi#102727 Hi Juan, did you end up trying the Travel Card at Budget?

                          An interesting data point myself, Last weekend I rented a car from Budget here in Amsterdam, using the Travel Card. It was treated exactly the same as any other credit card 😊

                            @Tom#109246 and so it should be, a lack of embossing, non-separated card numbers (e.g. recent bunq cards) or a lack of the card number altogether (e.g. physical Apple Card) is by no means a valid reason to refuse a costumer no matter where you are in the world. Simple fact is, cards come in all kinds of different flavours, colours and orientations. No such appearance is or can be a grounds for refusal and also in breach of existing guidelines both mastercard and visa have for merchants. Indeed, debit and/or prepaid may still be refused, but should most likely still work everywhere they accept creditcards and mastercard or visa logo is present.

                              @Tom#109246 No i did not try the Travel Card, it did not arrived on time, but I asked the guy in the desk and said that Budget was quite much more relaxed in the Netherlands than the policies of the broker i used to book the car with stated.

                              I am glad that it works, it is very good news.

                                Used my TravelCard at Sixt in Germany a few days ago. To my surprise, it worked flawlessly. 😉🤗

                                  @Robert-Silver-Turtle-4265395482#109664 Wo in Deutschland :)

                                    @Nermin-Azure-Eagle#110433 Schwäbisch Gmünd 😉🤪
                                    Circa 50 km von Stuttgart.

                                      @Robert-Silver-Turtle-4265395482#110434 Danke :)

                                        Successfully rented a car on the Azores with Ilha de Verde. At the moment of rental the deposit was immediately deducted from my account. At car return the rental canceled the payment using a terminal and my travelcard. However, the money was not immediately returned. I contacted bunq support and they say it can take a few days...?! Anyone experience with this?