A debit card is a charge on a bank account. This means that it can be used instead of cash for a deposit for a rented item.
Rental companies ask for deposits for a number of reasons. The first is that a deposit means that the object is likely to be returned voluntarily if there could be a deposit that is lost on the item. The second is that deposits tend to make people act more carefully with an object that they have rented out, even if they would still pay exactly the same if there was damage. The third reason why a deposit is charged is that a company will be able to easily charge back for any damage that the object has. Deposits are very common when hiring a car or a property, but are less common when hiring out smaller goods such as DVDs.
There are two ways in which a debit card can be used for a deposit. The first is through using the card to advance the cash in a normal way. This is little different from paying the deposit by cash. However in this case the deposit may be refunded to the debit card. This is done in order to make it harder for a person to commit fraud by stealing a rented object and then return it in order to collect the deposit.
The deposit can also be paid by the debit card by simply leaving the details of the debit card with the rental company and they can then take the money off using the debit card if there is any damage or if an item is returned late. This will mean that the deposit is not paid over when the item is rented which has a great cash flow advantage, particularly if the person has a certain amount of debt. At the same time the rental company is not going to lose out if the person does not return the object or if the object is returned damaged.
A debit card can be left “on file” which means that the details are stored with the rental company. This will mean that a person can rent an object with very little paperwork a second time.
A debit card user should be careful that they are not charged a second time for the deposit. This can happen by accident and should be refunded by the rental company as soon as the mistake is made clear.
