Friday, August 28, 2009

Debit card holders outspend credit card holders...and have more at risk

Thieves prefer stealing debit cards -or debit card identities- over stealing credit cards, reports NACSonline, an electronic newsletter published by the National Association of Convenience Stores.

The reason why, apparently, is approximately the same reason bandits Clyde Barrow and John Dillinger allegedly preferred V-8 Fords. They outran virtually every cop car on the road in the 1930s.

Debit card fraud is harder to detect because debit card companies by and large don't track suspicious transactions as closely as credit card companies do, writer Odysseas Papadimitriou reports on Examiner.com. And with debit cards outnumbering credit cards 176 million to 173 million by one federal count, more than half the nation's users of plastic are taking greater risks.

If someone swipes your credit card or your credit card identity, current federal law currently limits your loss to essentially $50. If the same thing happens to your debit card and you don't report it fast enough, you could be on the hook for whatever the thieves spend, the Federal Trade Commission says.

FTC and other authorities outline a bunch of ways to protect yourself against debit card theft. But many of them miss what I think is an obvious solution. Forget about debit, use credit and pay off the balance each month. You get the same results as with a debit card and you're only risking $50.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really think it depends on the bank on how good the fraud detection is. The networks do some, but it up to your issuing bank to catch it. Some do better than others. If you use a debit card keep an eye on your checking account daily. You can also lower your daily authorization limit. I lowered mine to $1000 So, you can still use it on weekends and holiday's. If you travel, I would lower it to $2,000

Unknown said...

It's inaccurate and misleading to claim that debit card companies aren't as vigilant about detecting and preventing fraud as credit card companies. Many debit networks use high-tech systems and tools to monitor transactions and alert financial institutions when those transactions are suspicious.

Healthcare and IT Professionals said...

I think with the act of stealing now the hide hikers are also available on through online. So there is also should need to the online security for Plastic Card. such as credit or debit cards.