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Well if this isn't the most timely post I've ever found. I just had the details from my debit card stolen on Sunday and the attached account completely drained.

Well if this isn't the most timely post I've ever found. I just had the details from my debit card stolen on Sunday and the attached account completely drained. It's so cool to be reading about how part of this process works.

dublinben 12y ago
Sorry to hear that. In the future, I suggest not using your debit card online or anywhere else it could get stolen. As you've seen, you have much less protection than with a credit card. I even have two completely separate checking accounts, at two different banks. One is only used at ATMs, and the other is only used to pay my CC bill. Neither are ever used online or at any physical merchant.
- arecurrence 12y ago
  Are you saying they wont be able to easily recover their money? I thought there were guarantees behind this.
  - bsilvereagle 12y ago
    A debit card is using your personal money, banks aren't necessarily going to spend resources recovering your money. Credit cards use the bank's money on credit. Most credit card users are only liable for $50 in damages.
    - dublinben 12y ago
      At most. If you dispute fraudulent charges in time, you're not liable for anything. I've even had my CC bank actively call me to discuss fraudulent charges, and that my card would be replaced by the next day.
      - ambiate 12y ago
        This is true. The bank told me that _any_ debit card, if you report fraud within 2 business days, should have zero liability. I have never found a reference for that information. Someone spent $2,000 at Comcast and Neiman Marcus on my card in one night. I reported it the following day and it was reversed and I was given a new card the same day. I would love more information from a banker on how the fraud disputes are won. Sometimes the merchant pays, sometimes the bank pays, sometimes it split in percentages. I know it has to do with how the merchant processed the payment or if a pin number was used for the transaction.
        FireBeyond 12y ago
        Mainly I'm just wondering how someone manages to spend $2,000 with Comcast at once :)
        shiftpgdn 12y ago
        The merchant is always the loser unless the fraud was so high the merchant goes bankrupt (this happens) at which point the payment processor is on the hook.
  - awda 12y ago
    Debit card fraud recovery is only backed by guarantees from the bank, if they choose to guarantee that. Credit card fraud recovery is mandated by the federal government.
    - oasisbob 12y ago
      Consumer liability limits are mandated for both. See regulation E for more details.
  - oasisbob 12y ago
    The protections are the same. The primary difference is in the case of fraud on a debit card, you don't have access to the stolen funds until your financial institution issues a provisional credit. (They have a short statutory time frame to do this.)
- ufmace 12y ago
  I've taken to never carrying the debit card attached to my primary checking account, the one that I receive paychecks in and pay most bills from. I opened a separate account to carry the debit/ATM card from, and periodically transfer extra money into that. I figure that limits the potential damage and hassle in case the card is ever lost or stolen. Even with that, I never use that card anywhere but the ATM. I suppose you have to be a bit more careful about these things with how easy the internet makes it to steal cards and sell the info to somebody else who can exploit the stolen card info with less risk.
- bitJericho 12y ago
  Alternatively you can just keep two bank accounts one for online transactions. You're not liable for overdraft fees or anything if your details were stolen. What you do gotta look out for is forgetting to add money in, but if you get a bank that is good about not allowing overdrafts to occur you can mitigate overdraft fees. Anyway, yeah you might be safer with a credit card, but then you have a credit card.
  - dublinben 12y ago
    >but then you have a credit card This shouldn't be seen as a bad thing. Like anything else, a credit card is just a tool. It can be used productively, or abused.
- seanccox 12y ago
  Thing is, I'm in Turkey, where you can't actually use debit cards for online transactions. It was my Turkish lira account, the only one attached to the card and the one that was running low anyhow, because it was the end of the month and I hadn't bother exchanging foreign currency for lira recently. There was no way to access the other accounts via the card at an ATM. A conversation with a banker revealed that the common trick here is for thieves to attach cameras to ATMs to grab details, and then build mimic cards to drain accounts. The bank was pretty cooperative in processing my claim, and said they should have the money back to me in about 45-180 days. So, that's kinda lucky. I'm going to be extra observant at ATMs from now on though.
  - ertdfgcb 12y ago
    Yeah, they're called ATM skimmers, they've been a pretty big problem in the US too. Kerbs has some nice articles about how they work: http://krebsonsecurity.com/all-about-skimmers/ http://krebsonsecurity.com/all-about-skimmers/
- panarky 12y ago
  ATMs aren't safe either. The ATM at my local Chase branch got skimmed and $8,500 taken from my account. The branch manager showed me photos of the skimmer gear and the police report. It was made to look like part of the ATM housing. She said over 200 customers were ripped off in one weekend. Even though they knew it was their own machine that was compromised, it still took almost a month and many hours of phone calls and letter-writing to get my money back.

dublinben 12y ago

Sorry to hear that. In the future, I suggest not using your debit card online or anywhere else it could get stolen. As you've seen, you have much less protection than with a credit card. I even have two completely separate checking accounts, at two different banks. One is only used at ATMs, and the other is only used to pay my CC bill. Neither are ever used online or at any physical merchant.

arecurrence 12y ago
Are you saying they wont be able to easily recover their money? I thought there were guarantees behind this.
- bsilvereagle 12y ago
  A debit card is using your personal money, banks aren't necessarily going to spend resources recovering your money. Credit cards use the bank's money on credit. Most credit card users are only liable for $50 in damages.
  - dublinben 12y ago
    At most. If you dispute fraudulent charges in time, you're not liable for anything. I've even had my CC bank actively call me to discuss fraudulent charges, and that my card would be replaced by the next day.
    - ambiate 12y ago
      This is true. The bank told me that _any_ debit card, if you report fraud within 2 business days, should have zero liability. I have never found a reference for that information. Someone spent $2,000 at Comcast and Neiman Marcus on my card in one night. I reported it the following day and it was reversed and I was given a new card the same day. I would love more information from a banker on how the fraud disputes are won. Sometimes the merchant pays, sometimes the bank pays, sometimes it split in percentages. I know it has to do with how the merchant processed the payment or if a pin number was used for the transaction.
      - FireBeyond 12y ago
        Mainly I'm just wondering how someone manages to spend $2,000 with Comcast at once :)
      - shiftpgdn 12y ago
        The merchant is always the loser unless the fraud was so high the merchant goes bankrupt (this happens) at which point the payment processor is on the hook.
- awda 12y ago
  Debit card fraud recovery is only backed by guarantees from the bank, if they choose to guarantee that. Credit card fraud recovery is mandated by the federal government.
  - oasisbob 12y ago
    Consumer liability limits are mandated for both. See regulation E for more details.
- oasisbob 12y ago
  The protections are the same. The primary difference is in the case of fraud on a debit card, you don't have access to the stolen funds until your financial institution issues a provisional credit. (They have a short statutory time frame to do this.)
ufmace 12y ago
I've taken to never carrying the debit card attached to my primary checking account, the one that I receive paychecks in and pay most bills from. I opened a separate account to carry the debit/ATM card from, and periodically transfer extra money into that. I figure that limits the potential damage and hassle in case the card is ever lost or stolen. Even with that, I never use that card anywhere but the ATM. I suppose you have to be a bit more careful about these things with how easy the internet makes it to steal cards and sell the info to somebody else who can exploit the stolen card info with less risk.
bitJericho 12y ago
Alternatively you can just keep two bank accounts one for online transactions. You're not liable for overdraft fees or anything if your details were stolen. What you do gotta look out for is forgetting to add money in, but if you get a bank that is good about not allowing overdrafts to occur you can mitigate overdraft fees. Anyway, yeah you might be safer with a credit card, but then you have a credit card.
- dublinben 12y ago
  >but then you have a credit card This shouldn't be seen as a bad thing. Like anything else, a credit card is just a tool. It can be used productively, or abused.
seanccox 12y ago
Thing is, I'm in Turkey, where you can't actually use debit cards for online transactions. It was my Turkish lira account, the only one attached to the card and the one that was running low anyhow, because it was the end of the month and I hadn't bother exchanging foreign currency for lira recently. There was no way to access the other accounts via the card at an ATM. A conversation with a banker revealed that the common trick here is for thieves to attach cameras to ATMs to grab details, and then build mimic cards to drain accounts. The bank was pretty cooperative in processing my claim, and said they should have the money back to me in about 45-180 days. So, that's kinda lucky. I'm going to be extra observant at ATMs from now on though.
- ertdfgcb 12y ago
  Yeah, they're called ATM skimmers, they've been a pretty big problem in the US too. Kerbs has some nice articles about how they work: http://krebsonsecurity.com/all-about-skimmers/ http://krebsonsecurity.com/all-about-skimmers/
panarky 12y ago
ATMs aren't safe either. The ATM at my local Chase branch got skimmed and $8,500 taken from my account. The branch manager showed me photos of the skimmer gear and the police report. It was made to look like part of the ATM housing. She said over 200 customers were ripped off in one weekend. Even though they knew it was their own machine that was compromised, it still took almost a month and many hours of phone calls and letter-writing to get my money back.