Community Chat

[CouponQueen]

I too was informed by my financial institution that if I chose the "credit" option on my Debit Visa Card then it would be utilized as one 100%. The only difference being that the monies come from my bank account and not a line of credit.

I use my debit visa as a credit for just about every non credit card purchase I make..

Unfortunately in the electronic times we are in this will happen. Being educated and taking the right steps is what we can do. 

I have a couple cards that have chips in them but they have to be inserted at the bottom of the CC reader and TWICE I have left them there by mistake and the Cashier called me as I was walking away. You don't just swipe and go the card must stay inserted in the reader during the entire transaction. Wasn't a fan after that lol...

[novamc1]

Debit cards seem more dangerous than credit cards to me.  If someone gets hold of your debit card, your bank account could be cleaned out in a heartbeat, and you might not even find out until a check or two bounces. 

If a credit card gets hijacked, you would see the bogus charges before you pay for them, if you review your account periodically or read your monthly statement. 

On top of that, credit card companies are pretty vigilant in watching out for fraudulent charges and alerting you quickly.  Not sure banks have people watching what goes into and out of your personal account that carefully.

We had our credit card hijacked, and I got a call from VISA around 9 p.m. one night that three "attempts" had been made to use the card at a gas station/convenience store in another state.  Card was immediately canceled and a new one sent.  However, when our monthly paper statement arrived, I saw three more bogus charges made much earlier in the month at a WalMart, Whole Foods and Exxon in a zip code too far away for me to shop there.  And it became clear later that the three "attempts" had actually been successful charges for purchases.  In all, the thief or thieves enjoyed an $800 shopping spree on our card.

VISA took care of those charges and we did not even suffer a bruise from the experience..  My younger son, however, had his debit card hijacked and had zero funds in his bank account for a few days before the bank restored it.

Since that time, husband and I have been notified about our personal info being compromised by several retailers, our health insurer,  and more recently by the federal government, which  managed to let data on millions of current and former employees get stolen. 

We now have fraud alerts and freezes on credit, plus free credit monitoring from various contractors, but I have absolutely no faith in those companies which supposedly are now safeguarding our data and supposedly will let us know of any attempts to breach it.

Our personal info is now so far gone and floating around out there in cyberspace that I do not believe we will ever be safe again.