3 ms·

You're mostly correct but I should point out one thing that credit cards do that debit cards don't really do in America: fraud protection. Credit card companies

by habosa 3y ago

You're mostly correct but I should point out one thing that credit cards do that debit cards don't really do in America: fraud protection. Credit card companies spend a lot of money protecting their customers from card number theft (which is rampant in all parts of the world)

sebazzz 3y ago
Debit cards in the Netherlands at least don't have a number that can solely be used for payments. You need the physical card (with a pin code which isn't written on the card but memorised), or a virtual card like Apple Pay coupled to that card. It seems that fraud protection is rather something that is necessary because fraud is so easy.
seanmcdirmid 3y ago
Not all countries apply this protection to their credit cards, even if they are issued from visa/master card/Amex. For example, we knew if a Chinese restaurant in Bellevue WA would target Chinese visitors using ICBC AmEx cards because ICBC (a big bank in China) puts the onus on the consumer to prove they didn’t make the charge rather than in the business making the charge. American credit card issuers would never do that and just let you make the charge back.
eru 3y ago
That might be true (I don't know), but then we are left with another mystery: why do credit card companies spend more effort combating fraud than debit card companies do? (Also keep in mind that it's often the same companies that do debit and credit cards. For example, I have debit cards in the Mastercard and Visa networks, but no credit cards. I assume most of the fraud prevention efforts benefit my debit cards as well. Also that relying on a bunch of numbers alone is pretty sketchy. But I am choosing to interpret fraud more widely, than just card number theft. I am pretty sure card number theft is pretty low(er) in parts of the world where people pay with chip-and-pin, and don't use numbered cards.)
adev_ 3y ago
> Credit card companies spend a lot of money protecting their customers from card number theft (which is rampant in all parts of the world) I only bite half to this argument. If they really wanted to fight against credit card number theft, they would: - Enforce pin payment everywhere around the world - Ban magnetic strip payment once for all - Enforce two factor authentication system for anything related to online payment. They do not. Why ? Because the fraud "real" cost is mainly thrown in the wild on the merchant that have to deal with their goods being sent and their payment being reverted. It is a liability issue. I am pretty sure that with a little law that, lets say, enforce Banks to reimburse their customers under 24h00 for a small fee, lets say 10$, in case of fraudulent transaction: This entire system of scam would fade away pretty quickly.

by habosa 3y ago

sebazzz 3y ago

Debit cards in the Netherlands at least don't have a number that can solely be used for payments. You need the physical card (with a pin code which isn't written on the card but memorised), or a virtual card like Apple Pay coupled to that card. It seems that fraud protection is rather something that is necessary because fraud is so easy.

seanmcdirmid 3y ago

Not all countries apply this protection to their credit cards, even if they are issued from visa/master card/Amex. For example, we knew if a Chinese restaurant in Bellevue WA would target Chinese visitors using ICBC AmEx cards because ICBC (a big bank in China) puts the onus on the consumer to prove they didn’t make the charge rather than in the business making the charge. American credit card issuers would never do that and just let you make the charge back.

eru 3y ago

That might be true (I don't know), but then we are left with another mystery: why do credit card companies spend more effort combating fraud than debit card companies do? (Also keep in mind that it's often the same companies that do debit and credit cards. For example, I have debit cards in the Mastercard and Visa networks, but no credit cards. I assume most of the fraud prevention efforts benefit my debit cards as well. Also that relying on a bunch of numbers alone is pretty sketchy. But I am choosing to interpret fraud more widely, than just card number theft. I am pretty sure card number theft is pretty low(er) in parts of the world where people pay with chip-and-pin, and don't use numbered cards.)

adev_ 3y ago

> Credit card companies spend a lot of money protecting their customers from card number theft (which is rampant in all parts of the world) I only bite half to this argument. If they really wanted to fight against credit card number theft, they would: - Enforce pin payment everywhere around the world - Ban magnetic strip payment once for all - Enforce two factor authentication system for anything related to online payment. They do not. Why ? Because the fraud "real" cost is mainly thrown in the wild on the merchant that have to deal with their goods being sent and their payment being reverted. It is a liability issue. I am pretty sure that with a little law that, lets say, enforce Banks to reimburse their customers under 24h00 for a small fee, lets say 10$, in case of fraudulent transaction: This entire system of scam would fade away pretty quickly.