Debit cards - be careful

[TheGeneral+]

A merchant needs no approval to take monies from your debit card. For CC's, there has to be approval, but with Debit it is different. Be careful

 

[Fishhead]

Add library and movie rental cards to this list.

Credit cards are the least of your worries as you are covered for any charges over $50. This is the case with most credit cards.

 

[bobsparks]

general i'am a merchant and you donot know what you are talking about
all trans must have approval

 

[TheGeneral+]

Tell that to the merchant who took money from my bank account using my debit card a couple days ago. The bank explained this to me.

 

[Fishhead]

Debit cards have caused many of my friends some headaches with unauthorized spending that they DID not recover.

General is indeed correct about this.

If you lose your Debit card, ACT FAST AND CONTACT YOUR BANK!!

 

[theswami]

General-

1) Was this a card with a Visa/MC logo?
2) Does your bank have a maximum liability clause in your Terms and Conditions? I didn't get a debit card until my bank instituted a $50 maximum liability if the card is lost/stolen.

Thanks for the information.

 

[TheGeneral+]

Hi Swami,

The card has a mastercard logo.

Not sure of maximum liability, but I was told I can file a complaint with the bank stating I did not approve & we could recoup. I was luckily able and discuss with the merchant and got my funds back.

 

[theswami]

Thanks General. I HATE debit cards with Visa/MC logos..they function like credit cards. Giving some thief access to American Express' money is one thing but giving them access to the cash in my checking account is a completely different story.

It would help if those damn cashiers checked the signature even 10% of the time!!!

BTW, how stupid is your merchant!!!

 

[awesomeagain]

general---are you sure ther merchant needs no approval??if that's the case then someone could take a debit card and buy a new car on the spot..

 

[wolfie_cr]

There has to be some truth about what General is saying because one thing is to issue a chargeback when the transaction is done through a credit card and another very different thing is when the charge is a debit card, once I had a person desperately asking for help because her bank told her that the only way was for us to issue a refund OR having the police doing a criminal investigation

Typically the bank would merely issue a chargeback but when its a debit card its basically like cash. Also because of that it was usually easier to run a gaming transaction through a debit card. Not sure about now but before it was like that

 

[TheGeneral+]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by awesomeagain:
general---are you sure ther merchant needs no approval??if that's the case then someone could take a debit card and buy a new car on the spot..

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

awesomeagain,

All I can elaborate is that this was done to me a couple days ago (electronically) and the bank said there is no approval needed on the debit card. I have only given this account to a couple of places, but I will be replacing my card.

 

[theswami]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by awesomeagain:
general---are you sure ther merchant needs no approval??if that's the case then someone could take a debit card and buy a new car on the spot..

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I've seen someone put a down payment on a car using their debit card. It is just like cash. The only limit (if there is one) is the amount that your bank will let you "charge" which is usually $2.5k - $5k at many banks.