3 ms·

You absolutely can use USAmerican debit cards for online purchases. You just expose yourself to massive risk by doing so (e.g. getting your checking account dra

You absolutely can use USAmerican debit cards for online purchases. You just expose yourself to massive risk by doing so (e.g. getting your checking account drained).

arcticbull 3y ago
Your liability is strictly limited in this case - similarly to credit cards, but not identically. Unfortunately you're out the funds until a resolution is reached which can be challenging to say the least.
- herbst 3y ago
  What is the difference with credit cards? Just recently YouTube charged me 10 times for something and drained my credit card. My bank was clueless and explained I get the money back within 4 weeks. Only because YouTube doesn't suck so bad I got the money back within a few days. I never paid for anything on YouTube. Nobody ever explained how that could happen
  - arcticbull 3y ago
    There's a few high-level and a few silly low-level differences. (1) With a credit card, your fraud liability is almost always zero (but technically $50). With a debit card, it varies - I think by law it's $0 if you report the card lost or stolen before it's used, $50 if you report it within 2 days, $500 if you report it within 60 days and unlimited after 60 days. For card-not-present I think it's 60 days for zero liability. (2) With a credit card, you simply don't pay the fraudulent charge until resolved. With a debit card, the money is out of your account until resolved. (3) There's some weird arcana in the Fair Credit Billing Act about common carrier bankruptcy. In some cases, you're not liable if an airline goes bankrupt after you book but before your trip. This doesn't apply to debit cards. [2] [1] https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/credit-cards/credit-card-vs-debit-card-safer-online-purchases https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/credit-cards/credit-card-... [2] https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/service-cessations-bankruptcy https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/service-cessation...

You absolutely can use USAmerican debit cards for online purchases. You just expose yourself to massive risk by doing so (e.g. getting your checking account drained).

arcticbull 3y ago

Your liability is strictly limited in this case - similarly to credit cards, but not identically. Unfortunately you're out the funds until a resolution is reached which can be challenging to say the least.

herbst 3y ago
What is the difference with credit cards? Just recently YouTube charged me 10 times for something and drained my credit card. My bank was clueless and explained I get the money back within 4 weeks. Only because YouTube doesn't suck so bad I got the money back within a few days. I never paid for anything on YouTube. Nobody ever explained how that could happen
- arcticbull 3y ago
  There's a few high-level and a few silly low-level differences. (1) With a credit card, your fraud liability is almost always zero (but technically $50). With a debit card, it varies - I think by law it's $0 if you report the card lost or stolen before it's used, $50 if you report it within 2 days, $500 if you report it within 60 days and unlimited after 60 days. For card-not-present I think it's 60 days for zero liability. (2) With a credit card, you simply don't pay the fraudulent charge until resolved. With a debit card, the money is out of your account until resolved. (3) There's some weird arcana in the Fair Credit Billing Act about common carrier bankruptcy. In some cases, you're not liable if an airline goes bankrupt after you book but before your trip. This doesn't apply to debit cards. [2] [1] https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/credit-cards/credit-card-vs-debit-card-safer-online-purchases https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/credit-cards/credit-card-... [2] https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/service-cessations-bankruptcy https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/service-cessation...