A coworker recently went through something similar. Someone used her debit card to purchase a ton of electronics, a cruise, and a bunch of other stuff. To the tune of 30k+ .. it took her almost a month to get all of her money back. That's enough reason for me to NEVER used my debit card.
Anyone else can think what they like, but this is why a debit card isn't useful for me.. only for quick cash withdrawals and then I'd rather go through the drive through and write a check for fear of a skimmer on the ATM.
Anyone else can think what they like, but this is why a debit card isn't useful for me.. only for quick cash withdrawals and then I'd rather go through the drive through and write a check for fear of a skimmer on the ATM.
@KennyRS wrote:
A coworker recently went through something similar. Someone used her debit card to purchase a ton of electronics, a cruise, and a bunch of other stuff. To the tune of 30k+ .. it took her almost a month to get all of her money back. That's enough reason for me to NEVER used my debit card.
Anyone else can think what they like, but this is why a debit card isn't useful for me.. only for quick cash withdrawals and then I'd rather go through the drive through and write a check for fear of a skimmer on the ATM.
I feel like some people have a false sense of security against their checks being hacked with all the news of merchant attacks. I have seen numerous people comment that this is why we should go back to using checks for everything, because they think it will stop with the breeches. What they must not know is like 99.9% of checks today are processed electronically. This is even worse off then using a debit card, because now when they hack a network, they get your full bank routing number as well as your personal account number. They could have your account drained to 0 before you even get home and they don't have to worry about those pesky debit card daily limits or fraud detections.
@14Fiesta wrote:
@KennyRS wrote:
A coworker recently went through something similar. Someone used her debit card to purchase a ton of electronics, a cruise, and a bunch of other stuff. To the tune of 30k+ .. it took her almost a month to get all of her money back. That's enough reason for me to NEVER used my debit card.
Anyone else can think what they like, but this is why a debit card isn't useful for me.. only for quick cash withdrawals and then I'd rather go through the drive through and write a check for fear of a skimmer on the ATM.I feel like some people have a false sense of security against their checks being hacked with all the news of merchant attacks. I have seen numerous people comment that this is why we should go back to using checks for everything, because they think it will stop with the breeches. What they must not know is like 99.9% of checks today are processed electronically. This is even worse off then using a debit card, because now when they hack a network, they get your full bank routing number as well as your personal account number. They could have your account drained to 0 before you even get home and they don't have to worry about those pesky debit card daily limits or fraud detections.
My write a check comment was specifically meant at the drive through teller. 
@KennyRS wrote:
@14Fiesta wrote:
@KennyRS wrote:
A coworker recently went through something similar. Someone used her debit card to purchase a ton of electronics, a cruise, and a bunch of other stuff. To the tune of 30k+ .. it took her almost a month to get all of her money back. That's enough reason for me to NEVER used my debit card.
Anyone else can think what they like, but this is why a debit card isn't useful for me.. only for quick cash withdrawals and then I'd rather go through the drive through and write a check for fear of a skimmer on the ATM.I feel like some people have a false sense of security against their checks being hacked with all the news of merchant attacks. I have seen numerous people comment that this is why we should go back to using checks for everything, because they think it will stop with the breeches. What they must not know is like 99.9% of checks today are processed electronically. This is even worse off then using a debit card, because now when they hack a network, they get your full bank routing number as well as your personal account number. They could have your account drained to 0 before you even get home and they don't have to worry about those pesky debit card daily limits or fraud detections.
My write a check comment was specifically meant at the drive through teller.
It pays to re read. I thought you were going to start writing checks for everything. 
My words still stand though for those that didn't know that.
@Anonymous wrote:
@longtimelurker wrote:
@peaceonearth wrote:
@AvadaKedavra wrote:Eek! That's a hefty charge!
Though I don't quite understand what the difference between credit and debit would be in this situation
Imagine you wrote a bunch of checks to pay your mortgage, utility bills and credit cards and they were due to clear on the next day or two, you used your debit card to pay for coffee at Starbucks and the clerk made a mistake by entering the wrong amount; such a mistake will cause you a big disaster plus Hundreds of dollars in fees and you have to wait for days to get that money credited back to your checking account.
Right, but people also have recurring charges charged to their credit card, and you can get in to part of the same trouble, charges fail because it exceeds your CL, creditors charge penalties, and maybe at first issuer takes AA because of the failed charges. The money isn't gone from your bank account, but it's not harmless.
Which reinforces your own concept of using specialized cards for categories of spending. If you do that, then the card you would use for coffee would have nothing to do with the card that pays your utilities.
It's nice how Longtimelurker usually gives the problem AND the solution to many an issue...
I agree that it is not without risk. However, one's cash is King - so in this day age of identity theft and credit fraud credit cards are the first line of defense. Keep the firewall up on your banks accounts - deposits can come in and you choose to push payments out. But no ACH payments, debit card transactions, etc. You do this and your cash is protected quite well.
CC's have a vested interest in resolving eroneous charges as its their money on the line and they also moreresources to do it.
br>Current Scores: EQ: 629 EX: 654 TU: 682 on 12/30/2014 from myFico
@longtimelurker wrote:
@peaceonearth wrote:
@AvadaKedavra wrote:Eek! That's a hefty charge!
Though I don't quite understand what the difference between credit and debit would be in this situation
Imagine you wrote a bunch of checks to pay your mortgage, utility bills and credit cards and they were due to clear on the next day or two, you used your debit card to pay for coffee at Starbucks and the clerk made a mistake by entering the wrong amount; such a mistake will cause you a big disaster plus Hundreds of dollars in fees and you have to wait for days to get that money credited back to your checking account.
Right, but people also have recurring charges charged to their credit card, and you can get in to part of the same trouble, charges fail because it exceeds your CL, creditors charge penalties, and maybe at first issuer takes AA because of the failed charges. The money isn't gone from your bank account, but it's not harmless.
longtimelurker,
That is not the same. We're talking about emptying your checking account.
You have $7600.00 available in your checking account to cover your mortgage payment of $2200, phone bill $275, power $350, cable $399.00, car payment $550 and 4 credit cards.
You go to Taco bell and purchase several Tacos and a drink, the total is $7.59 the clerck swipes your Debit card and got $7590.00 out of your checking account by mistake. You end up with only $10.00 in your checking account now, all the bills mention above hit the bank and there is not enough money to cover them.
It will be much less or zero damage if you used a credit card as a form of payment.
If such mistake happens, the credit card company wil recognize it as an error and it is not your fault.
Something like this actually happened to me kind of recently. I used my Freedom to pay for my haircut ($46). My hairstylist accidentally typed in $460.00 (an extra 0) and I didn't even realize it until two days later when donig a regular check of my accounts. Of course I called her and she promptly refunded the difference but I was happy I used credit and the money didn't leave my checking account!
Quicksilver $10,000 | Better Balance Rewards $2000 | Sallie Mae $3500 | Freedom $3500