My sister has worked with network systems since she saw the “internet” or whatever it was called in the service late 70’s. Then she went to work at AMEX all thru the 80’s. Family story is how she got paged at Thanksgiving dinner, made a call & left the house for work telling us Frankfurt is down." We had no idea what she did- “something with phones I think”
So she knows her schit. She’s still building & running net systems.
She told me to stop using my debit card EVER except at the bank. She says too many poorly built systems with tons of vulnerabilities. Use a credit card only. Debit card allows creeps into all your accounts.
I think so. I use mine everywhere, online, at doctor’s offices, physical stores, and never have had a problem. My bank notifies me of any suspicious activities and are good at reimbursing me and not charging overdraft fees if anything goes south. What else am I supposed to do, carry cash or wrote checks?
When I use my debit card to pay bills over the phone I recite (key in) the numbers that appear on the card. I may as well be reading them from a scrap of paper. Sounds secure to me!
My understanding is the main issues are the access to your accounts and your bank’s fraud protections. In the US, I believe you can only be liable for max 50 bucks in fraudulent charges on your credit card but the cap is much higher for debit cards.
Additionally, debit cards are linked to your account. If a thief gets hold of your card, they could drain your account and leave you without funds to pay bills or buy groceries. If someone maxes out your credit card, your actual funds are still safe while you resolve the credit card fraud.
The way it works is a debit card is a direct link into your bank account. You can use it like a credit card in terms of swiping and online purchases but you are directly removing money from your account when you do. A credit card is you borrowing money from a third party and then paying them back with your money. In the end if someone gets a hold of your credit card and borrow money in your name then your money is still safe while you work out who owes what to the third party that did the lending. On the other hand if someone gets a hold of your debit card then they are removing your money and its gone until you can convince someone to reimburse you. That means you can be in much worse financial shape if your debit card is stolen then your credit card so it is much better to risk your credit card info then your debit card info.
In the end your sister is right you should use your credit card all the time and never use your debit card, just remember to pay it off at the end of the month.
I’ve been saying that for as long as I can remember and I’ve mentioned the same thing here dozens of times. Yes, I understand that the bank (be it debit or credit card) will recover my money. The problem is that if someone gets my debit card, they’ll can drain/overdraw my checking account. I’d much, much rather have one of my credit cards maxed until things get sorted out than not have any money (can’t pay bills, can’t pay mortgage etc) for those same few days.
No. Look at it this way. If I take your credit card and use it at a gas station or online or anywhere else for that matter, where does the money come from. If there’s no access to your checking account without a PIN, it may be okay, but if, for example, someone gets the number and uses it on ebay and that money comes from your checking account, they can take all your money.
And also it should be mentioned that if you don’t check your credit card and bank statements regularly (at least once a month) and your credit card is set to autopay the entire amount, you could still be at risk. It may be a bit easier to recover your money, since there’s some intermediate steps, but you still have to be careful.
Also, don’t link your bank account to PayPal, link it to a credit card. If you do link your bank account, monitor it closely.
I had my PayPal account hacked once and like credit card fraud, the hacker started with small amounts less than a dollar and once the account was found valid, tried transferring in the thousands. I laughed it off, because at the time I had less an $100 in both my checking and savings!
From personal experience I think that’s overly paranoid. I’ve been using debit cards for decades all over the place and never had an issue with fraud. One time over those many years I did get a call from the bank that my card was part of a group that may have been compromised and they issued a new one, but I never sustained an actual loss to fraud. It’s true, however, that you’re much better protected with credit cards and that’s the preferred payment method if there’s any doubt at all about the merchant or the integrity of the transaction environment. My biggest fear with debit cards is that they can be skimmed with devices inserted into the POS card reader, but if the transaction amount is low enough you can avoid that risk with the contactless payment (RFID) method which I use whenever possible in preference to chip and PIN.
I don’t have a debit card, but if I did, I’d get one linked to a separate account (checking or savings) from my main one and make sure there’s no overdraft protection which allows automatic transfer of funds. If I was planning a large purchase, I’d do an online transfer, which is instantaneous for the amount I needed.
Never understood the allure of debit cards. Don’t believe I’ve ever had/used one. But a lot of folk obviously differ. Never carried a credit card balance either.
If your credit history is so crummy you can’t get a credit card, then debit cards let you get on with your life. That’s pretty much the only reason I can see to ever use a debit card for anything other than pulling cash out of my bank account.
I have higher standards for security than a lot of people. Computer Science prof. and all that.
So we refused to even have a debit card for the longest time. Just an ATM card. Our bank forced us to have a combo debit/ATM card. So we set the daily purchase limit to $0.
Credit cards are what you use to make purchases, not debit cards. (Insert standard responsible consumer caveats.)