Tenancy Deposit Schemes

Credit Cards

I recently had to hire a car and there, they didn’t ask for a deposit but required my credit card details with a declaration that any costs incurred e.g. damage etc. could be taken from the credit card.

There appears to be no reason why, instead of taking a deposit a landlord can’t take a tenants credit card details and at the end of the tenancy deduct from the card any rent, damages etc. from it.

Obviously not all tenants will have a credit card but it may be worth asking the question. The advantages of this system are:

• Being able to rely on the credit checks undertaken by the credit card company
• Being an open ended payment rather than limit to the cash amount of the deposit
• The amount is paid by the card company and then recovered by them from the tenant.