[lordy]

I've booked a trip to Las Vegas next week (staying at the flamingo), I've paid for the trip and bought my spending money with my credit card leaving me pretty much maxed out.

I'm told that on checking in the hotel will sometimes swipe your card and put a hold on an amount of anything up to $300 in case of additional charges/room damage etc - is this always the case and if it is will I be able to leave this amount as a deposit in cash?

thanks in advance

[Buzz123]

Why would anyone borrow money on a credit card to have cash for a trip when they could just pay for everything with the card as it occurs. What am I missing?

[youngblud]

All over the world I can't remember a hotel that didn't ask for a credit card, but they rarely swipe it beforehand.

Hotels generally accept a cash deposit. Party hotels usually run your card in Asia... I was warned last week not to try this on a debit card.

[lordy]

Originally Posted by Buzz123

Why would anyone borrow money on a credit card to have cash for a trip when they could just pay for everything with the card as it occurs. What am I missing?

i just prefer to use cash when I'm visiting casino's

just to add ive already paid in advance for the hotel room, what im worried about is the hotel swiping an amount for additional charges/room damage etc

[hockeygirl4]

The hotel will most likely put a hold on your card until you check out in case there are room damages, which they would not find out about until you check out. If you ask to pay in cash, they'll double or triple the amount they "hold" on your credit card, same with a rental car. They're not going to accept say $300.00 cash because if they do that, and you do more damage than $300, they can't get that money from you. If people in this economy can't pay their mortgage, there sure wouldn't be paying for hotel room damages if a bill was sent to them for damages.

[Lukas05]

I stayed at the MGM Grand recently and they held $100 per night for incidentals on a credit card. We had a three night stay, so they held $300. I stayed at another place on a different trip for six nights and they said they hold a flat $250 for stays over 2 nights. It's gonna very depending how nice a place you are staying. For the Flamingo, I would say you are gonna need at least $50 a night.

I know at Caesars and Planet Hollywood its the same.. at $100 a night on a CC or a flat $200 cash for the duration. Flamingo might have the $200 cash option as well, since they are all Harrahs.

[macgeek]

Lordy, A lesson in credit card economics.

I am going to make a few assumptions here, so please forgive any inadequacies in my analysts.
I am going to assume that you took out a $1000 cash advance on your credit card, and you have a $5000 credit limit, which you have maxed out.

Now that cash advance has a probable (maybe even higher) rate of 25% (compounded daily)
so your $1000 is costing you $1250 to pay it back, But that's not the worst thing.
if you say pay back $1000 next month. only 40% of the $1000 is credited toward your cash advance.

So you are now paying interest on $850 'cash advance' ($212.50)
OK, pay off another $1000 the following month now you owe $665.00 on the cash advance

Lets stop here, and see where you are at: your $1000 cash advance has now cost you $1628.25
for a three month loan.. and its still not payed off.

See anything wrong here??

Jonathan

[clutchcargo777]

I do. With the CARD act anything above the minimum payment now must go to the higher APR
portion, which will be the cash advance .

[macgeek]

Good call,
I have been so conditioned to be raped by Credit card companies, I forgot there are now laws that are protecting the consumer.

Jonathan

[clutchcargo777]

Originally Posted by macgeek

Good call,
I have been so conditioned to be raped by Credit card companies, I forgot there are now laws that are protecting the consumer.

Jonathan

No prob. One of my hobbies is figuring out ways to profit (legally)
from credit cards and banks using their tangle of double-speak
against them. It's quite fun!

I do agree with you that it is not a good idea to use a cash advance
for this situation. Not only will there usually be an upfront fee but
also a higher payback APR (which begins accruing immediately, no grace period).
Not to mention you send a message to the CC company that you are probably in trouble.
This may lead to a credit limit decrease as they try to limit their exposure.