My debit card is actually a Visa Check card too. I am not sure if it has more or less protection than a credit card itself, but you are right, there is more danger in having it tied to a checking account rather than just a charge account.

This was a big wake up call for me. I have been the victim of identity theft in the past and had checks forged and honored by a previous bank to the tune of thousands of dollars before I discovered it. In that case it took about 3 weeks to get the money back.

I am real sick of these damm criminals!

Norm

I hear what you’re saying regarding the use of credit cards, but I’ve actually switched to using a credit card for pretty much all expenses that I don’t pay cash for. I pay it off at the end of the billing cycle so I don’t run up debt, but the additional security that I get from this makes it worthwhile. Over here in the UK, the consumer protection you get from using a credit card is much better than for a debit card. I only use my debit card in ATMs of banks that I recognise, everything else goes on the credit card. This does take the sting out of phonecalls along the lines of “have you just bought some truck tyres in Sri Lanka?”.

The Old Lady of a friend of mine had her debit card cloned, the bank wasn’t as careful as yours and her account got cleaned out to the tune of GBP4000 – that’ll be almost $8k. Nothing ruins your day more than some scumbag leaving you unable to pay this month’s installment on your mortgage, I tell you. And it did take a long time for her to get the money back, although I believe that US banks are a bit more helpful than UK ones in that respect – they certainly were when my old lady had someone “borrow” her card details, but then again the perp in question was, shall we say, a tad less sophisticated.