Since it originated with Italian immigrants in Chicago, probably not.
Well whereâd those Italian immigrants get the idea from?! Back home maybe?
Anyway I was just eating Portillos and thinking out loud
I need help with terminology. Iâm renting a car out of Jackson for one day. The rental company sent me an email saying this:
Please remember, debit cards are NOT accepted to qualify and our location, and the credit card must be presented in the renterâs name at the time of pick up.
What exactly is meant by a âdebit cardâ here? I have a VISA debit card that functions like a credit card except that the funds are taken from my account. You can do anything you can do with a credit card on it, including placing a hold on some amount of funds. Is this going to be a problem?
It started out as cheap cuts of beef that were cooked using common Italian seasonings. The main innovation was to slice it thinly, supposedly to make the same amount of meat feed more people.
I suppose there are people in Italy who also cook beef and use the same herbs and spices. They may even use it to make sandwiches.
But it doesnât seem to be a recreation of a dish that those immigrants remembered from back home, if thatâs what youâre asking.
I say this as someone who hasnât been to Italy, but it fits what I read about the history of immigrant cooking.
If you havenât been to Italy, are you even a person?
That seems like a very Eurocentric view of the world.
It was a joke! I havenât been to Italy either. But weâre certainly the minorities on this thread!
Yeah, itâs a problem, Iâm at least pretty sure. Do you not have a regular credit card? But I would expect a company saying this to not accept your card. Not sure if itâs because they want to verify that you have at least $x in your line of credit or because many credit cards offer some sort of car rental insurance or what.
This actually might be a problem. Car rental companies try not to deal with debit cards bc its riskier for them and if something happens they can only draw against what the bank balance is, which might not be much or something like that.
You donât also have a credit card? edit: ponied
OK, thanks. I donât have a regular credit card, why would I?
The way it works here is that the company places a hold on the card for the entire amount of the excess. Whether this is part of your credit limit or is actual funds in your account, that is then locked away for the duration of the hold so you canât use it for anything else. The hold is then released when you return the car undamaged. There is thus zero risk to the company that you wonât be able to produce the funds if needed.
It seems like I am pretty much screwed then. Iâm leaving in 24 hours time. I can see if my bank can organise a credit card for me in that time but I doubt it.
Cash back and perks that debit cards donât offer?
I have repeatedly used a Visa debit card in situations exactly like whatâs being described with zero problems. They might pull a deposit from the account and hold it for a week or two, but Iâd be really surprised if it was flat denied.
My guess is that you are using a well-known chain. Car rental companies have been more friendly to debit cards, but that they seem to be saying that they donât accept them at that particular location makes me guess it is a franchised location and not corporate-owned.
100% of debit cards in the US work this way, and itâs specifically what theyâre trying to avoid.
If you call the rental car outlet, describe your situation, talk about your international itinerary and how you are willing to put down a larger deposit, they might be willing to work with you.
When we talk about how life is harder in the US in a zillion ways for low income people with no credit, this is a nice minor example. Welcome to America!
The policies are different at different companies, but Iâd just call them up and explain. They might be more lenient if they donât think youâre a higher risk renter.
Yeah I donât know, I found this in the Google reviews for the place
I called 2 weeks prior to my pickup date and asked about the payment options. An employee with very broken English told me âwe accept all cards for paymentâ. My questions were barely answered due to the lack of English.
They neglected to tell me that Dollar Car Rental does not accept debit cards, prepaid credit cards, cash, checks, and credit cards from non-drivers. They ONLY accept credit cards with the driverâs name (and the driver must be 25 and older).
That sounds ominous.
The Google reviews are terrible, by the way, which I knew before I made the booking, but itâs the only game in town. Getting from Jackson to Grand Teton National Park is absurdly difficult considering thatâs a major reason people come to the town.
Why, though? I donât get it. It seems like they canât be placing a hold the way they do here, otherwise why do they care? It is impossible for them to get stiffed here once a hold is placed.
I had this happen once and they just put a larger than usual hold on my card, but YMMV. I believe the rental company was Budget.
Did they say it was a Visa debit card? Did they confirm they were denied?
I had trash credit for a long time and only had debit cards. Lots and lots of companies would say they donât take debit cards for things like car rentals and hotel reservations, but I whenever I handed them a Visa debit card they swiped it and it worked. Maybe everybody has gotten a lot stricter since I was in that position, but I kind of doubt it.