[E. Pluribus Unum]

This is why I quit using debit cards. They have a direct line to your bank account.

Credit cards protect you from fraud.

Debit cards don’t.

[Ken522]

I agree with you 100% - NEVER use your debit card at a gasoline pump!

[Zhang Fei]

[This is why I quit using debit cards. They have a direct line to your bank account.]

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Ditto.

[Zhang Fei]

Or, in modern parlance, #MeToo.

[Dave W]

Debit cards are protected from fraud, too. Bank of America (and all banks) will replace all your money in 24 hours if your debit card is misused whether it is stolen, skimmed or communicated any other way.

The banks have to because they need their account holders to use their debit card in confidence, otherwise, people who tend to be nervous nellies over everything and need their hands held won't use them. Obviously, it is in the banks interest because the cost per transaction is cheaper via debit card, then checks or cash.

I won't bore you with my story, but BoA replaced my money on the spot and it was not a small amount, either. It is the only time, I have had a problem out of thousands of transactions.

[flamberge]

Credit cards protect you from fraud. Debit cards don’t.

That is not quite correct. But the rules are different.

I had direct experience with a Debit card fraud in which the perpetrators emptied my bank account over a weekend. I detected the fraud on Monday and called my bank (and the police).

I was told there if such losses were reported within three days of occurrence that the bank was required by law to make good on the losses. They did.

The card was apparently run through a skimmer at a retail store by a newly hired clerk. The skimmer copied the account number and PIN code from the mag stripe on the card.

The criminals took hundreds of these scans, copied them to bank card stock and ran them through ATMs all over a nearby city the next weekend. There was in interesting photo of a gang member swiping my card at an ATM about 80 miles away.

I got an order confirmation request from REI for several thousand dollars worth of camping gear to be shipped to a bogus address in Washington State. I declined that order of course. No harm done there.

There were prosecutions a year later, but I never learned any specifics about the outcomes.

I got a new card. I got a new account number. I got my money back.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Exactly! I always go inside the store and pre-pay, debit or credit.

[trebb]

Yep...