It’s not out of the ordinary for the moving company to ask for a credit card number upfront -- it’s a way for them to check your credit to see you’re good to cover the costs, and/or they're using it as a form of deposit to hold your move date.

Many businesses do this kind of thing, particularly for a large transaction.

Be sure to clarify with the moving company that this is their intent in asking for the credit card. Also be sure to ask if they charge a fee to use a credit card – I’ve heard from many people who move who say their movers charged up to 3% to pay by credit card. (Many credit card companies, and several states, prohibit charging a fee to use a credit card.)

They’re most likely not going to just charge your card and not show up – you could just dispute the charge and your card company would likely back you. Paying by credit card is generally a pretty smart way to pay because if something goes awry with your move, you can dispute the charges with your credit card company. You don’t have that luxury paying by cash.

To put your mind further at ease, ask your credit card company what would happen if the mover charged your card but didn’t do the move, or something went wrong with the move.