When debit cards first came out, I thought… how cool! A card you can use in replace of writing a check. The idea saved me time and money — two of my favorite things.
Then it all started to crumble. A woman I worked with had a horrible financial disaster… all due to her debit card. She had gone shopping at a local clothing store and bought a few items for about $50. The next thing she knew was her mortgage and car loan checks had bounced. Where was all her money?
She called the bank to discover that instead of one $50 charge at the clothing store, there was one for $50 and one for $2000. The cashier had run her card number a second time and pocketed the goods.
Well, at first it sounds like – okay just a minor problem… simply credit the error and move on. Nope. The bank initially didn’t believe my coworker and refused to give the money back into her account until she could prove it wasn’t a valid charge. Not only did it take a few days to get the actual receipt, the woman had signed my coworkers name to the credit slip. The signatures were extremely similar.
Needless to say, my coworker finally resolved the problem, but it took almost four weeks. During that time, she was out $2000 dollars. Not a situation any of us wants to deal with.
The main difference between a credit card and a debit card risk comes down to the billing. With a credit card, a false charge can be put on hold until resolved. In turn, a debit card takes money directly from your bank account. So that money disappears while the error is getting investigated.
This experience hit me hard. I had to get away from this risky card trap. I instead switched my debit card into a true ATM card. I can use it for purchases made with my pin, but not without it. This keeps my immediate cash flow safe from mistakes and misuse.
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