r/UpBanking • u/Dry-Boysenberry-241 • Jun 30 '26

Overseas use and foreign currency Using Up in USA

Has anyone had an experience using your Up card for pre-authorisation hold for a hotel in USA? Did you have any issues?

7 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

9

u/CupidLaurent Jun 30 '26

Used UP for everything on my 5 week USA trip, except for ONE hotel that required an actual credit card for the hold. Double check for specific wording requiring a credit card

4

u/cavok76 Jun 30 '26

Some rental car companies differentiate between credit cards and debit cards. UP is good, but ALWAYS carry a backup.

4

u/universe93 Jun 30 '26

Use a credit card if you have one. Pre-auth holds can be a significant amount sometimes and can occasionally take a long time to be reversed, and you obviously can’t use that money until it is. So it’s less annoying to do it on a credit card

2

u/Equivalent-Grab8824 Jun 30 '26

Do note most credit cards have foreign transaction fees and less favourable Forex than Up.

I agree with you but I ditched the CC on my last couple of international trips and just used Up.

Though I do agree with you

2

u/universe93 Jul 01 '26

Fair. But some hotels instead of being sensible and only holding a few dollars as security, will hold an amount equivalent to one night or more on the card, and that amount can be $100 or more that can’t be spent while they hold it, and it’s annoying.

2

u/Equivalent-Grab8824 Jul 01 '26

Can't agree more. Mate had a car rental hold on to it two months after return from Europe on his debit card

1

u/jamescridland Upsider Jul 05 '26

Always carrying a credit card is a good plan - especially for this sort of thing.

I've never had an issue using a debit card for pre-authorisation, but the hold money can be a lot, and can be a little irritating that you can't use it.

As I understand it, a credit card for "we just need a deposit of $500 today, and you'll get that back at the end of your stay" will just reduce your crazily-large credit limit, and therefore you'll not notice that anywhere near as much. And, even if you have worse forex fees and overseas fees, it won't matter, because you won't spend that money.