You might not have a good credit score, but still want to take a ride on a car rental company like Alamo. Considering the fact that debit cards are barely accepted on most car rentals, it’s vital you know whether or not they perform a credit check.
Does Alamo do a credit check?
Many top car rentals, including Alamo, don’t do credit checks before renting out their cars. However, there are exceptions where a credit check could be done due to some reasons.
Renting a car, especially for the first time, requires a load of conditions to get started. From having to get registered into the platform to getting yourself verified and off to make payments.
The first step, getting yourself registered, can be considered easy, as it doesn’t require any formal document. On the other hand, the two other steps, the verification step, and the payment section are a bit more difficult.
Provided you’re done settling the verification section, you now have one last section to settle – the payment step.
Read Also: Does Alamo accept Chime?
And that’s where the question comes in. Does Alamo do a credit check?
Alamo doesn’t perform credit checks, and it’s unlikely for any car rental company to do that. The only exception to this could be when you perform a make payment with a debit card.
The point here’s that Alamo doesn’t do a credit check.
But, Why?
Credit checks are important to most companies that usually lease their assets to customers. They make use of the data gotten from the credit checks to determine whether they should risk their asset to these customers.
But in the case of a car rental company, they don’t need to.
As a matter of fact, you can barely find car rental company that would accept payments made without a credit card.
This is an important strategy because credit card poses less risk to them, in case of fraud. Plus, in the event of a damaged rental car, a credit card from the user response is the only solution to recoup their losses.
With this, they don’t need to perform a credit check, except if the need arises.
This is not an exception to Alamo car rentals.
Read Also: Is it possible to rent a car with a Fake ID?
However, it’s worth mentioning that Alamo would allow users to make use of a debit card based on certain conditions, which can be found on their payment policy.
Generally, you should expect a deposit hold of $300-$400 to make payments with debit card on Alamo.
Other than that, you’re safe and don’t need to worry about whether Alamo does perform credit checks.
How to rent a car on Alamo with a poor credit score?
As we said earlier, Alamo doesn’t perform a credit check before renting cars out. All it needs to process payment is a valid payment method, bearing the same name used in the registration of your account.
In other words, if you have a poor credit score, you don’t have to worry. You just have to follow the usual procedures of renting the car, based on the fact that your credit score is not going to be analyzed.
So again, you have to follow the normal procedures of renting a car.
Below are some of the requirements needed to rent a car at Alamo:
- You must be up to 25 years of age (to gain full access)
- You should be up to 21+ years of age (under some conditions)
- You should have a valid driving license that is updated.
- You should have a credit card bearing the same name as the one on your driving license.
Provided you satisfy the above requirements, you can go ahead to make a reservation on the platform. Click here to do that.
What is the cause of a low Credit Score?
Probably you decided to check your credit score and were unfortunate to find it in a very poor rating.
This is very crucial to take a look at because it could limit your credit potential and lead to a case where other car rentals (and financial organizations) would constantly reject your application to their network.
Fortunately, there are things you could have done wrong. And we’ll be listing them out here:
- You fell off a credit agreement – If you fail to meet up with a credit agreement, or keep making late payments with your credit card, there is a high possibility it’s going to get added to your credit history and as a result, affect your credit score.
- Declare a Bankruptcy – While declaring bankruptcy can be a relief to your financial problem, it could be a significant role player to a poor credit score.
- Being subject to a County Court Judgement – If you’re been reported severally to the court for failure to pay up your balance to people, your credit score would also be affected.
How to Increase your Credit Score to be eligible to rent on other car rentals
While many car rentals do overlook credit scores and go after other requirements, it’s vital you keep a watch on your credit score.
Because, as a matter of fact, not all car rentals overlook credit scores.
In fact, a good number of car rental companies still perform credit checks to avoid falling to customers that are not financially stable.
Here is a list of what you can easily do to increase your credit score, to confidently make payments anywhere, including all car rentals:
- Make every payment that is being saved on your credit history on time
- Always monitor your credit for fraudulent activity
- Avoid relocating from towns to towns
- Get a credit builder card
Final thoughts
Alamo doesn’t perform a credit check on your credit history before renting you a car. However, in rare cases, it could, if the need arises.
