OT- debit cards

Whats your opinion of debit cards? At the urging of friends I got one instead of carrying so much cash. I was told that it was safe from loss because it required a pin number. Not so! I have used it 6 times and only one asked for the pin number. If this is so, then carrying a debit card would be like carrying a signed blank check, or many signed blank checks. they could empty by bank account if I loose it. Is there any security in having one? I don't want to use the credit card cause I want the deal over and done, not dragging on for 4 to 6 weeks.

I think as long as it has the visa or mastercard logo, you are protected like acredit card. You have to tell the cashier to run it as debit to use a pin number. It is better than cash in my opinion.

I guess you will just have to go back to using cash! We have spent some time in CA the last couple of winters and using a credit card you usually have to enter your zip code, I like that! One frustration is that many gas stations charge a premium for using a credit card, so I just get $10 worth and use their bathroom and back on the road.

You can set a limit on how much can be drawn each day if your real concern is getting cleaned out. The only reason I got one in the first place was that the dealer that I deal with wanted me to so they could ship parts to me if I called them instead of going to pick parts up.
I've never used it in a store for small purchases,but it comes in handy if we want to order concert tickets or make motel reservations when we're traveling.
I'm like you though. I've got no interest in having a credit card. Never had one. Don't plan to.

When you use a debit card you have the option of credit or debit.If you choose credit your pin# wont be required.Tell merchant you want debit transaction and pin# will be required.You should keep track of debit card just like you would cash in your pocket.So when you dont know where your card is,one phone call can cancle it.If you lose your cash you cant stop anyone from spending it.

Welcome to the world of technology.
Good Luck

Stan

well its the thing of the present. and yes there is a pin#.your the only one that is to know your pin #. why is someone asking for your pin#?when you use it you need to punch in your secret pin#. no its not like carrying signed checks, cause if its lost and some one finds it and trys to use it it will not work till they punch in the correct pin #. after 3 trys the machine will keep the card and thats that. thats why its a secret #. good idea to change the pin # every so often.

If you lose it, just call the bank and cancel it. Can't do that with cash.

They are a big revenue generator for the issuer.
Do a search for Debit card fees.
Rules on fees might be changing.

It works different in the US I guess, we always look at them like idiots when we give a debit card and they ask debit or credit. In Canada they are separate cards, and both need pins now, and have this chip thing in them.

One reason I like Debit Cards is because it zips that money right out of your bank account in a heartbeat, and I stop and think whether I really want to spend that money a lot closer than I did when I used a credit card and ran up a bill to choke me at the end of the month. Paul

I think that some of you missed my point. I know and use a credit card. My point was that I though a debit card REQUIRED a pin number to be punched in (not "given" to the merchant), but not so. They are taking it just like a credit card, but straight out of the bank account. When I asked one merchant why not he said "we do not have that machine so we just take it like a credit car". In other words, any body could use my debit card. I read that the issuer will make good on fraud, but I expected to have to "punch in" the pin number each time.

Sorry, wasn't payin attention. I can't remember the last time I used my pin for a purchase. I just click credit and give my autograph. Still use p.i.n. for ATM though.

Never wanted a debit card- just use credit card. Still more protection with credit card than debit, although they have made some improvements (don't think they can just drain your bank account with debit, with no recourse, like when they first came out). Loss on credit card limited to 50 bucks, you can stop payment if you get cheated, Discover pays cash back (we get 300 bucks or so every year)- and no interest if you pay in full each month. And to top it off, you get a float for a month or so. Can't beat it with a stick.

As Ken Said below - In Canada we have two ypes of card Debit - direct out of bank and Credit - AE, MC Visa etc.

Canada apparently has been a test for the rest of NA to go CHIP with a PIN on the CC. Most all merchants have now switched over - I just got my new machine last week. It does recognise a card which does not have a CHIP and can be swiped still. Most people in Canada have had their cards switched over to CHIP.

Is it safer?? Yes. Can their still be problems? Yes. If you forget your PIN on the CC three or four times in a row it will lock the card down. You need to go to a bank which issues the card to get it to work again. Actually this is a pretty good feature - just remember your PIN.

Now a problem with both Debit Pins and CC Pins. Don't let them take it out of your view to swipe (under the counter, in the back room etc. The slime balls have come up with a way of tracking your key punches on a fake machine and corelating it to the swipe of your card. I was in a Gas station restaurant last yesr, bought a burger and coffee. The girlswiped my card, I entered the pin and paid, seemed like all was well.
Three days later a girl at my Credit Union called me on my cell in a bit of a pannic. She said my card had been compromised, we talked through may past transactions and discovered that about a $1000 had been withdrawn in three transactions in the previous day.
She said not to worry, we wrote a letter confirming the theft and my money was back in my bank within a day.
The banks and CC companies are very proacive up here and they can trace wierd purchase immediatly. I have had Visa call me on my cell as I walk out the doors of Home Depot to confirm my purchase. In fact they have cancelled my card twice just to be on the safe side. The new card is replaced imediatly. Yes its a bit of a hassel but I have never been out and money.

The new CHIP technology will be comming south soon. I gather there are so many more merchants that it takes longer to upgrade the system in the States. It's a good system. It's also important to have a good relationship with your bank or Credit Union that issues the Cards. They are always going to bat for me if there are any problems.

Grant

The machine is always supposed to ask for your pin.That was his problem, no pin was needed

I have free checking and haven't paid a fee yet on my debit card. But then I've never pulled cash out of an ATM with it either.

The issue with debit cards is if some one gets your card and PIN and starts using it in another state. My sister (lives in Missouri) got a call that someone in Florida was buying airline tickets with her card. Locked down her account which stopped the theives from using it but it left her in Colorado with no bank account and no credit card (cut them up after paying them off). Her company does auto deposit into her account so she went without access to her paycheck for a week also.

The only time Im ever asked to enter a pin is if I want debit or credit. If you use debit most banks charge a small fee for that so I always use credit( it doesnt drag on like a credit card its over and done with) Now if someone grabbed your card they could buy whatever they wanted as long as the selected "credit" the only thing they couldnt do would be use an atm to withdrawal cash. So basically if you lose your card report it lost or stolen asap. I do like the fact that instead of breaking bills and throwing change in a cupholder the loose change just stays in your account and that can add up.

Some places are not set up for debit. They just process it as a credit and you sign the ticket like a credit but it still comes out of your account as a debit. Some pleaces like Mcdonalds don't require a signature at all on small purchases.

Two different systems. I assume your debit card must have a Visa or MasterCard logo on it?

If you're punching in the PIN then it is an online transaction. Just like an ATM. The computer is talking to your bank and seeing if you have the money.

Without the PIN then it is going through a credit card type system. Visa (or whoever) will handle the transaction and then take the money from you later.

Ken, it depends upon where you are using it and how sophisticated of a system it has. Gas pumps all do by CC as they are not set up for pins. Walmart's system usually defaults to debit but not always as it may give you a choice. Once you run it as a debit or credit, the system remembers it for that card and will about always come up with the same use, ie. once you use it as a debit, it will always ask for a pin. On the day you can't remember your pin, hit cancel and it will change to credit. You get about 3 trys with a pin number before it gives you the boot for the day.

Good comments!

On the back of the card in the SIGNATURE space...write in PHOTO ID. REQUIRED. I've had mine (photo ID) checked many times and ALWAYS thanked the clerk for asking.

Rick

Most people don't understand the merchant side of credit cards. The merchant pays a "discount rate" or surcharge on the amount of each transaction, this is usually 1.5 to 3%. The merchant has the choice to take the hit or pass the cost along, most merchants just price their goods accordingly and everybody pays the inflated price. At least the gas stations give you an option. Most amusing was Discover card. Their wonderful "5% cash back"was a double edge sword, Discover's discount rate was 8% at one point (3% for them 5% for the customer) so the merchants that did accept Discover adjusted pricing accordingly, others just refused to take Discover. Discover was originally part of the Sears financial network. So in short everybody can tag at least 3% worth of higher prices on the convenience of plastic.

I don't know what Canada is going to do, but in the UK the change to chip-and-pin meant the customer was now liable for fraud.

Right now, the customer is not liable for fake charges if they are reported quickly. The banks and the stores don't like that, since they take the loss.

With chip-and-pin they got the law changed (in the UK) so that the customer takes the loss when by claiming the system was so great, no one could fake it. Of course, that isn't true.

coloken,

Some rules of the game to help keep you safe with a Debit Card.
Never ever sign the back of a credit or debit card like we did for years. This just gives the theif a picture of your legal signature. Instead, write in that area, "Check pic ID and Driver's License."
You have to tell retailers to run it as a debit card so that you can enter your pin number. There may be a few that do not have the pin number pad. In that case, you sign the receipt, but they have checked your ID, right?
When you have stated on the back to check ID, it gets stolen and they did not check, they are responsible for the entire charged amounts.

Our local station requires PINS when using a debit card. Another station I USED to go to refuses to allow debit cards at the pump - they claimed you could swipe the card fill up but if you only had a $1 in your account and you filled with $50 worth of gas they are stuck eating the difference.

730d, all that sounds good but is absolutely worthless. I have a friend that does that. Clerks never look at the back of the card. And a thief would use the card any way (as a credit card). and how would you prove that it said that, cause you don't have the card any more. It makes my friend feel better but I have never had a clerk look at the signature on a card.

d, that's because the old station you used to go to was running the debit cards as a credit. Credits don't hit the bank account until a day or four later depending upon if a weekend and holiday is in there. By then there may not be money in the account. It then depends upon the customer and bank whether the bank will pay it and charge an overdraft or just deny it as insufficient funds.

Running it as a debit with pin number checks the account balance at that time and the station can then deny it if there isn't enough balance. Since you haven't pumped any gas yet, they do what the motels do and that is preauthorize an amount such as $100 or whatever they choose. (Unless they wait until after the gas is pumped before you use your card.) The preauthorization is good for the business but not always for the purchaser as it ties up that money in your account for a while. Example would be if you have $120 in the bank, the station/motel ties up $100 in preauthorization for the purchase for a while, you only pump $10 worth of gas (leaving $110 in the account), then go to walmart to buy $75 worth of stuff, and you get denied at walmart because the account still has that $100 preauthorization from the station that doesn't immediately get released. It's not a problem if the preauthorization is released but they have trouble with motels not doing it for a few days so they can check the room for damage and so on and then when the clerk gets around to it. You have probably noticed that walmart and places now scan a check and send it through electronically like a debit and then hand your check back to you. It comes out of your account right then and if you don't have money in the account, they will reject it right then. (no more check float while you it takes a couple days for checks to clear when you are planning on your pay check to hit the bank on Friday)

The other consideration is who pays the fees to Visa. With Credit, the station pays the 5-7% fee to visa and with Debit, the bank pays a much lower charge around 2-3%. It is money out of the pocket when the margin on gas prices is very much so businesses prefer you to use a credit card and the banks prefer you run it as a credit. Also sometimes a credit card payment can be contested sometimes which ties up the money so the business can't use it until resolved. There are some places around here that won't take cards as a credit for those reasons.

There's a lot of wrong information already posted........at least as it applys in the US of A. Ask whoever supplied the card for their 'rules'. Will have been married to a banker for 45 years on the 6th of June. (She started as a note-teller and is currently executive vice-president/chief operating officer) I almost never carry cash and average 25-30 debit transactions per month. No way in Hail I'd be allowed to use it if 'tweren't safe.

Just another worry about someone stealing your card number and pin; has happened to a couple individuals I know. One used it locally in Peoria and the clerk sold the numbers to someone in California whom then used them. The guy did some tracking and unfortunately for the thief, he was located near the San Diego Naval Base. The card owner was a former Navy Seal and with a phone call had a few "mates" wander over to the thief's residence and have a "talk". But I don't have similar "friends" and will avoid the hassle by carrying cash.

I wouldn't have a debit card. Some places what to charge you for using then. I use credit cards like a debit card. All my credit card are auto paid from my checking account when they are due. I make money on my credit cards, 1%, 2% and 3% depending on the card and what I'm buying. Last year, I made over $200 on just a Menards credit card. How much money can you make on a debit card? ZERO! Not to mention, it's nice to have a second set of records for business purposes.

If you are worried about someone stealing your cards or your identy, use life lock, I do.

I've had one for nearly 15 years now, although at first it was called a "check card".

The one I have now can be run as a check card, i.e. sign like a credit card, or as debit with the pin #.

Wouldn't do it any other way. Online banking records transactions almost instantaneously, no more scribbling in the check book register. Pay at the pump, never have to go in the gas station.

Many debit cards work like a credit or debit card.

Pretty much all debit cards may be processed as a credit card. In some cases the store isn't set up to handle debit, in other cases the clerk is too lazy to process it as debit. Regardless of why, it's actually in your favor to have the card processed as a credit card. The transaction now falls under credit card rules, which favor the rights of the cardholder over the business.

Many places/cards don't require a pin for under a certain $ amount. For my MC it's anything under $20.

I have never ever heard of using a debit card without a pin. Maybe the rules are different down there though. I feel safer with a debit card than a credit card because here the pin is ALWAYS required. Here they have started toward chip debit cards (as well as CC) because they can"t(yet) be duplicated. The CC chip cards are different in that they have a pin. As far as I"m concerned that whole thing is a mess right now cause some stores use it and some don"t. Atleast with debit the pin is always required, regardless of whether it has a chip or not.

coloken, I too use a debit card BUT!!, I am in process of Stopping using the one tied to my Checking Account! I will be using a re loadable card for my transactions. Just safer for my Regular Checking Account. I will still use it to get cash, pay bills... locally where I do biz on a regular basis, like Electric COOP, Gas, etc. When off on a trip, over 50 miles from home, Amazon, EBAY. etc. I will use the re loadable card!
Had a hotel deck clerk tie up my checking account for 4 days. The machine hiccuped @ the Deck, she ran my card 7 or so times, The monitor didn't record that the transactions ever took place, it all hit a while later that night.
Long and short of it was,,,They straightened it out, replaced the $800 that was removed from my account but it took 4 days, thank the Lord that I had more than enough in my pocket to cover me and my family for those 4 days.
Yes the convince of it is nice, you do not need to carry large amts of cash, they can be nice but they can bite you too if you are not heads up!
Hope this helps.
Later,
John A.

Fellows just open you another account with just so much money in it and if need to buy larger item add to it///////////

yes, lots of bad info here. May or may not be wrong, because the rules depend almost entirely on the bank that issues the card. Some will work as both debit and credit. some won't.

I get asked all the time "debit or credit?" and no matter what I say my debit card always works as a debit, money is gone right then and there.

There is less protection when using a debit card as it's more like cash - you can't call the bank and "stop payment" on a debit purchase. Merchants usually like you to use debit rather than credit as the percentage the bank takes off the top of the sale is less for debit.

I use debit more than credit, although I probably shouldn't...

Yes, there is a HUGE hole in the security of a debit card.

Yes, someone can steal it and use it as a credit card and clean you out. No form of payment is crime-proof.

You don't leave cash lying around where anybody can take it. Why would you leave your debit card lying around where anybody can take it?

If you treat your debit card the same as you would a wad of cash, then a debit card is every bit as secure as cash, and then some.

When a bad guy steals cash, he's got your money. He can spend it with impunity, leaving no trail.

When a bad guy steals a debit card, he can only buy things, and then only as long as you fail to report the card stolen. Plus, he's leaving a trail of evidence.

You know when someone steals your cash. Why wouldn't you know when someone steals your debit card?

You don't walk away from a cashier without getting your change. Why would you walk away from a cashier without getting your card back?

You keep cash in a wallet. Why would you not keep your debit card in the same wallet?