rd.com — Many people wrongly assume that debit cards offer the same protection against fraud as credit cards. But when a debit card is stolen or copied, there's no grace period while you contest the charges. Your cash has already been electronically zapped from your checking account. Here's how to avoid the newest scams, fees, and traps...
Jan 4, 2008 View in Crawl 4
joshhanJan 4, 2008
I'm not sure why people still write checks and use cash for purchases anymore. If I could pay my mortgage on my credit card, I would.Instead of spending cash, you could charge as much as you can on a credit card and get anywhere from a 1% to 5% rebate on your purchases. In addition, you get a free loan for 20-35 days at the same time earning a little interest on the cash in your account. My credit card even sends me a year end report on all my purchases categorized by vendor. This is, of course, contingent on paying your balance in full every month. But if you pay with a debit card or check, then I assume you have the money in hand anyway.
trielleJan 4, 2008
I seriously wonder about some people.If I use my debit card, I watch the clerk scan it, and have it in my hand before I do anything else. I never let it out of my sight and I have never had any problems.
fjc8Jan 5, 2008
Nonsense. Credit reports are not updated in real-time; records are kept per billing cycle.If your issuing bank informs you of fraudlent charges and reverses them on a debit card, they can reverse them on a credit card too, and just as fast. Visa/MasterCard transactions do not should not increase the balance on a credit account immediately after an amount is authorized; the actual amount should be added to the balance later as an actual transaction. With recent fraud detection systems, they should be able to detect potential fraud *and* confirm that it is fraud as long as the user answers / returns their call.If a fraudulent charge doesn't get caught: unless that fraudulent charge pushes you over the limit, it's only going to increase your balance (compare to overdraft). And unless you're watching your account balance daily, your balance will have been changed by the time the transaction is complete.And if somehow
metalwolfJan 5, 2008
Here is my trick. I only use my debt card for online shopping and only load it for the amount im going to spend. If my card gets stolen I only lose a little bit of money, if any.
crimsonblurJan 7, 2008
Go back and read the second paragraph of my post...
twizzlenicoleAug 4, 2009
That is not the same for all banks across the board though is it?