Is a credit card deposit a normal part of the vehicle purchase process
"Unfortunately, it's not unusual enough.  If you're looking for a popular car and the dealer wants to make sure they aren't holding onto inventory without a guarantee for sale, then it's a not completely unreasonable request.  You'll want to make sure that the deposit is on credit card, not cash or check, so you can dispute if an issue arises.   Really though, most dealers don't do this, requiring a deposit, pre sale is usually one of those hardball negotiating tactics where the dealer wrangles you into a deal, even if they don't have a good deal to make.  Dealers may tell you that you can't get your deposit back, even if they don't have the car you agreed on or the deal they agreed to.  You do have a right for your deposit back if you haven't completed the transaction, but it can be difficult if they don't want to give you your money back.  The dealer doesn't ever ""not know if they have that specific vehicle in stock"".  The dealer keeps comprehensive searchable records for every vehicle, it's good for sales and it's required for tax records.  Even when they didn't use computers for all this, the entire inventory is a log book or phone call away. In my opinion, I would never exchange anything with the dealer without a car actually attached to the deal.  I'd put down a deposit on a car transfer if I were handed a VIN and verified that it had all the exact options that we agreed upon, and even then I'd be very cautious about the condition."
"I'm not sure if this answer is going to win me many friends on reddit, but here goes...  There's no good reason why they couldn't have just told him the current balance shown on their records, BUT...  **There are some good reasons why they can't quote a definitive ""payoff"" balance to instantly settle the account:**  It's very possible to charge something today, and not have it show up on Chase's records until tomorrow, or Monday, or later. There are still places that process paper credit-card transactions, or that deal with 3rd-party payment processors who reconcile transactions M-F, 9-5ish, and so on.   - Most transactions these days are authorized the instant you swipe the card, and the merchant won't process until they get authorization back from the CC company. But sometimes those authorizations come from third-party processors who don't bill Chase until later. Some of them might not process a Friday afternoon transaction until close-of-business Monday.   - Also, there are things like taxicab fares that might be collected when you exit the cab, but the record exists only in the taxi's onboard machine until they plug it into something else at the end of the shift.   - There are still some situations (outdoor flea-markets, auctions, etc) where the merchant takes a paper imprint, and doesn't actually process the payment until they physically mail it in or whatever.   - Some small businesses have information-security routines in place where only one person is allowed to process credit-card payments, but where multiple customer service reps are allowed to accept the CC info, write it down on one piece of paper, then either physically hand the paper to the person with processing rights, or deposit the paper in a locked office or mail-slot for later processing. This is obviously not an instant-update system for Chase. (Believe it or not, this system is actually considered to be *more* secure than retaining computerized records unless the business has very rigorous end-to-end info security).   So... there are a bunch of legit reasons why a CC company can't necessarily tell you this instant that you only need to pay $x and no more to close the account (although there is no good reason why they shouldn't be able to quote your current balance).   What happens when you ""close an account"" is basically that they stop accepting new charges that were *made* after your notification, but they will still accept and bill you for legit charges that you incurred before you gave them notice. So basically, they ""turn off"" the credit-card, but they can't guarantee how much you owe until the next billing cycle after this one closes:  - You notify them to ""close"" the account. They stop authorizing new charges.   - Their merchant agreements basically give the merchant a certain window to process charges. The CC company process legit charges that were made prior to ""closing"" the account.   - The CC company sends you the final statement *after* that window for any charges has expired,  - When that final statement is paid (or if it is zero), *THAT* is when the account is settled and reported to Equifax etc as ""paid"".   So it's hard to tell from your post who was being overly semantic/unreasonable. If the CC company refused to tell the current balance, they were just being dickheads. But if they refused to promise that the current balance shown is enough to instantly settle the account forever, they had legit reasons.  Hope that helps." "I'll assume United States as the country; the answer may (probably does) vary somewhat if this is not correct.  Also, I preface this with the caveat that I am neither a lawyer nor an accountant.  However, this is my understanding: You must recognize the revenue at the time the credits are purchased (when money changes hands), and charge sales tax on the full amount at that time.  This is because the customer has pre-paid and purchased a service (i.e. the ""credits"", which are units of time available in the application).  This is clearly a complete transaction.  The use of the credits is irrelevant.  This is equivalent to a customer purchasing a box of widgets for future delivery; the payment is made and the widgets are available but have simply not been shipped (and therefore used).  This mirrors many online service providers (say, NetFlix) in business model.   This is different from the case in which a customer purchases a ""gift card"" or ""reloadable debit card"".  In this case, sales tax is NOT collected (because this is technically not a purchase).  Revenue is also not booked at this time.  Instead, the revenue is booked when the gift card's balance is used to pay for a good or service, and at that time the tax is collected (usually from the funds on the card).  To do otherwise would greatly complicate the tax basis (suppose the gift card is used in a different state or county, where sales tax is charged differently?  Suppose the gift card is used to purchase a tax-exempt item?)  For justification, see bankruptcy consideration of the two cases.  In the former, the customer has ""ownership"" of an asset (the credits), which cannot be taken from him (although it might be unusable).  In the latter, the holder of the debit card is technically an unsecured creditor of the company - and is last in line if the company's assets are liquidated for repayment.   Consider also the case where the cost of the ""credits"" is increased part-way through the year (say, from $10 per credit to $20 per credit) or if a discount promotion is applied (buy 5 credits, get one free).  The customer has a ""tangible"" item (one credit) which gets the same functionality regardless of price.  This would be different if instead of ""credits"" you instead maintain an ""account"" where the user deposited $1000 and was billed for usage; in this case you fall back to the ""gift card"" scenario (but usage is charged at the current rate) and revenue is booked when the usage is purchased; similarly, tax is collected on the purchase of the service.  For this model to work, the ""credit"" would likely have to be refundable, and could not expire (see gift cards, above), and must be usable on a variety of ""services"".  You may have particular responsibility in the handling of this ""deposit"" as well." Some of the items required as part of the home buying and mortgage process are traditionally paid prior to closing. These are usually the items that the buyer purchases as part of the process: home inspection, credit check. These expenses take place early in the process and if the deal falls through due to the inspection or credit history problems the seller doesn't want to get stuck paying for. The buyer will frequently have to write a check for these as they occur. Other items occur later in the process or even at the very end of the process. Determining which side pays for each item is a combination negotiation and local tradition. Even for the items that the buyer has to pay for, there can be a negotiation between the  buyer and the lender. Sometimes the lender allows the buyer to roll the closing costs into the loan, this does mean that they will be paying interest on the closing costs for years. But not rolling in the closing costs mean that you need more cash on hand. This is in addition to the down-payment and the costs of moving.   The closing costs covered by the seller reduce the size of the check they will receive at the end of the process. Their willingness to kick in this cash is a function of will they still make money on the deal, how many other bidders there were, and do they need the cash to buy their next house. At settlement the forms identify each item involved and who agreed to pay for it, then each side is credited for the items they paid for already. Then each side either writes a check for the balance due or receives a check for their reimbursement. Keep in mind there are also money exchanges that take place at the closing that are not covered by the buyer: real estate commissions. There are also items such as interest for the current month, and property tax credit that depend on the day of the month and month of the year.  Sit down with your agent or your lender to get an idea of what you need to pay before closing.  Though telling everybody that you will have zero cash to pay for these things may make the lender very nervous about approving a loan. "I don't think credit cards support depositing money into to begin with. Anyone could deposit money to a Credit Card acccount.  All they need is your bank's name, Visa/Mastercard, and 16 digit number.  It is done through the ""Pay Bills / Make Payments"" function in online banking.  So tell me, what does it mean that PayPal will transfer the money to my VISA card You can use the new balance for spending via Credit Card, the effect is same as making a payment from your chequing account to credit card account.  Will it simply just get transferred to my bank account by the local bank after that Some banks would refund the excess amount from your Credit Card to your Chequing Account after a while, but most don't. People keep credit balance on credit card to make a purchaes larger than credit limit. For example, if your credit limit is $1000, balance is $0, and you made $500 payment to the credit card, you can make a purchase of $1500 without asking for credit limit increase." "Here is how the Visa network works: A Visa transaction is a carefully orchestrated process. When a Visa   account holder uses a Visa card to buy a pair of shoes, it’s actually   the acquirer — the merchant’s bank — that reimburses the merchant for   the shoes. Then, the issuer — the account holder’s bank — reimburses   the acquirer, usually within 24 to 48 hours. Lastly, the issuer   collects from the account holder by withdrawing funds from the account   holder’s bank account if a debit account is used, or through billing   if a credit account is used. I read this to mean the Merchant's Bank (the Acquirer Bank) gives the merchant the money within 2 days via the Card Issuer's Bank. The issuing bank is the one that provides the ""credit"" feature since that bank won't get reimbursed until the shopper's bill is paid (or perhaps even longer if the shopper carries a balance). You'll notice the Credit Card company (Visa/MC/etc) is only involved in the process as a way of passing messages. Of course they take a fee for this service so seller ultimately get's less than the buyer bought the shoes for." "The real answer is to talk to the bank. In the case of the last car loan I got, the answer is ""no"". When I asked them about rates, they gave me a printed sheet that listed the loan rates they offered based on how old the car was, period. I forget the exact numbers but it was like: New car: 4%, 1 year old: 4.5%, 2-3 years old 5%, etc.  I suspect that at most banks these days, it's not up to the loan officer to come up with what he considers reasonable terms for a loan based on whatever factors you may bring up and he agrees are relevant. The bank is going to have a set policy, under these conditions, this is the rate, and that's what you get. So if the bank includes the size of the down payment in their calculations, then yes, it will be relevant. If they don't, than it won't. The thing to do would be to ask your bank. If you're only borrowing $2000, and you've managed to save up $11,000, I'd guess you can pay off the $2,000 pretty quickly. So as Keshlam says, the interest rate probably isn't all that important. If you can pay it off in a year, then the difference between 5% and 1% is only $80. If you're buying a $13,000 car, I can't imagine you're going to agonize over $80. BTW I've bought two cars in the last few years with about half the cost in cash and putting the rest on my credit card. (One for me and one for my daughter.) Then I paid off the credit card in a couple of months. Sure, the interest rate on a credit card is much higher than a car loan, but as it was only for a few months, it made very little real difference, and it took zero effort to arrange the loan and gave me total flexibility in the repayment schedule. Credit card companies often offer convenience checks where you pay like 3% or so transaction fee and then 0% interest for a year or more, so it would just cost the 3% up front fee." Many businesses that accept regular VISA credit cards will not accept VISA purchase cards intended for corporate/gov purchasing departments and able to furnish a more detailed audit trail (purchase order #, lot #, etc.) than a regular credit card.  Other merchants take ONLY VISA purchase cards. Generally, unless you're doing a wire transfer, bank transactions are processed in batches overnight. So the credit card company won't be able to confirm your transfer until the next business day (it may take even longer for them to actually receive the money).