Debit vs. credit cards.......if you use debit, you might want to read this!

februa

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So how do debit cards work in the us?
I have a bank card, that I use to withdraw from any ATM, or pay for at any location with Interac direct payment (which is at least 80% of all retail businesses), directly from my bank account. I have a unique pin that has to be entered correctly for this to ever work....
This has and has no opportunity to have anything at all to do with Visa or Mastercard....is the US idea of Debit card essentially a prepaid credit card?
 

katachtig

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Originally Posted by Februa

So how do debit cards work in the us?
I have a bank card, that I use to withdraw from any ATM, or pay for at any location with Interac direct payment (which is at least 80% of all retail businesses), directly from my bank account. I have a unique pin that has to be entered correctly for this to ever work....
This has and has no opportunity to have anything at all to do with Visa or Mastercard....is the US idea of Debit card essentially a prepaid credit card?
Debit cards in the US will carry the Visa or Mastercard logos so that the stores can process them the same way. It is exactly like your debit card, the money is directly taken out of the checking account.

The main issue here in the States is that Federal law protects your credit card so that if it is stolen or fraudently used, you are only responsible for the first $50. The protection of a debit card depends on the institution issuing it.
 

ryanjay

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I just got a credit card recently...and by me wawa is the convience store of choice-and I don't sign anything. I put 20 on it today(subs, drinks...) and I have used it a few other places with no signature put on it yet(granted i am just going to petstores that see me often enough but still..
i think if i had a higher credit limit i would worry a bit more but since its pretty low ..yeah not the right approach huh?
 

jean-ji

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Yosemite wrote: Unless someone knows your PIN number, a debit card is pretty much useless to them as far as I know whereas a credit card anyone can use.
I mainly use my debit card, it's a MasterCard check card, at the grocery store. It's tied to my checking account. At the store they ask debit or credit.
A nice, old cashier told me to use credit, because otherwise I get charged a withdrawal fee, like for the ATM. When I choose credit, there is no charge.
When I use it as debit, it requires a PIN number, used as credit, I don't put in a PIN, I just sign like a credit card.
So if they aren't checking ID's someone could just sign my name.
I got mine because one day I realized hardly anyone writes checks, and people didn't want to be behind me in line!

~Rhonda
 

zissou'smom

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Originally Posted by twstychik

I worry about things like that alot.. espically since most plaes now don't require a signature for purchases under a certain ammount ($50 in some cases). I NEVER sign the back of my cards.. instead I write See ID but it's only checked about a third of the time and that's only when I use a "real person" to cash out. The thought of ever losing my purse/wallet is something that seriousely terrefies me for so many reasons!
I ALWAYS check ID. We have to. Even if it's signed on the back, even if it has a photo on the card. Even if it's for 30 cents. And I won't take it unless the names match. Like, I don't care if it's your dads or your wifes. It's not yours. People get mad at me. But people also thank me.

Incidentally, I make minimum wage. We all do. And most of us do care.

Anyway, I've always thought of a debit card as just being an electronic check that's safer for the business but not really for us. I always use my credit card.

And, for online stuff I get a one-time number that's not linked to jack from the credit card company.
 

sarahp

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The whole Mastercard debit card thing in the US scares me. In Australia you have separate debit and credit cards and you must have the PIN to use a debit card, and it's not linked to your credit card and cannot be used as a credit card.

We're amazed at the amount of places that take our Mastercard debit card and require no ID, no signature and no PIN. Restaurants, cinemas, shopping stores. Scary. And anyone can copy the numbers and go nuts for online transactions.

DH checks our bank accounts every day.
 

breal76

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You know it's all very interesting. Back in the day Visa/Mastercard paid me for every siezed card I would catch on fraud when I worked in retail. It was between 50-100 dollars for every card I caught. I made 4.75 an hour, and to this day am an excellent signature matcher.



My credit union excels at fraud protection. I worry about nothing. Which is why I have banked with them for 13 years.

The only time when I pointed out the "invalid unless signed" on the back of a credit card when someone wrote "check ID" I only did it to be an asshole. Usually they said something to me to rub me the wrong way. So I always returned the favor. lol..I am so glad I don't work in retail anymore!
 

urbantigers

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I tend to use my credit card for online transactions as I have more anti fraud protection with that than my debit card, but my bank almost certainly would refund any fraudulent transactions on my debit card. Once when I made an unusually large payment to my credit card they rang to check it was genuine. I always have to enter a PIN number for both cards if I use them in a store.
 

crazyforinfo

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Originally Posted by lunasmom

Well here's the answer:

FDIC Consumer FAQ
Scroll down to the second to last question.

I found this to be interesting though:
Debit & Check Card Consumer Protection Act of 2006

I Don't know if that has passed yet or not.
Just something else to remember. I had a customer come in within the time limit to report her card lost. She had a police report and everything. When filing a police report don't say "DEBIT CARD" try to name what bank. This lady said "debit card" & since she put in writing that she had another at a different bank and the report didn't specify what bank's debit card was taken she didn't get her money back.
 

lunasmom

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Originally Posted by crazyforinfo

Just something else to remember. I had a customer come in within the time limit to report her card lost. She had a police report and everything. When filing a police report don't say "DEBIT CARD" try to name what bank. This lady said "debit card" & since she put in writing that she had another at a different bank and the report didn't specify what bank's debit card was taken she didn't get her money back.
Wow...that's good to know!

I did read on VISA and Mastercards web site the tiny FYI print at the bottom regarding their Zero Liability. Basically you have to report the claim within 2 days for zero liability.
Otherwise you're responsible for that $500 the lady in the article mentioned.

And this is all dependent on your bank as well.
 

wickedkitten

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Originally Posted by urbantigers

I tend to use my credit card for online transactions as I have more anti fraud protection with that than my debit card, but my bank almost certainly would refund any fraudulent transactions on my debit card. Once when I made an unusually large payment to my credit card they rang to check it was genuine. I always have to enter a PIN number for both cards if I use them in a store.
Did you know that over here in the UK we actually do have protection even if we use our debit card? If you have a switch/visa delta card with the Visa logo on it and you get stung for anything that you buy, you can still have them do a chargeback.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programme...ch/4260806.stm
 

esrgirl

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Back when Bank One was still Bank One I had a company that I ordered cds through charge me something like $900 by accident. Clearing that up was a pain in the but initially and took persistence, but I was able to get all fees taken away when I provided a letter from the company, who admitted fault. When it comes to ordering online I've always liked companies that use Paypal for this very reason. I've had two problems with fraud. charges and Paypal took care of the situation immediately. The only problem is that most online companies don't accept Paypal.
 

katachtig

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Originally Posted by esrgirl

Back when Bank One was still Bank One I had a company that I ordered cds through charge me something like $900 by accident. Clearing that up was a pain in the but initially and took persistence, but I was able to get all fees taken away when I provided a letter from the company, who admitted fault. When it comes to ordering online I've always liked companies that use Paypal for this very reason. I've had two problems with fraud. charges and Paypal took care of the situation immediately. The only problem is that most online companies don't accept Paypal.
That is the biggest advantage of a credit card vs a debit card. You don't have to pay disputed charges on a credit card but in the case of a debit card, the money is pulled and then you have to fight for reimbursement.
 

larussa

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quite a bit and so far have never had a problem. Acutally I use it mostly for grocery shopping every week or two. I use my credit card for actual material purchases. Thanks for this article tho.
 
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