Cash, Credit or Debit? Holiday Shoppers Running Scared

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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May 9, 2000
Messages
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The holiday shopping season is almost upon us and everyone is gearing up for probably the busiest shopping season ever. The biggest danger this year will be shopping at stores just hoping that have not been targeted by malware. Afraid to use your credit card and opt instead to using your debit card for more safety? Think again.

Even though credit and debit cards look and swipe the same, a 3.370 by 2.125 inch piece of plastic with numbers on the front and a magnetic strip on the back, when trouble hits they're pretty different.
 
Good, these fucking stores hang onto all this credit card information for much longer than is actually needed, and on top of this have all this information accessable remotely? They god damn deserve to lose business over this.
 
Ever wonder the government doesn't make it illegal to hang on to the data? Because they don't want to.

Even when the government steps in and fines these companies....The money goes to the government....not the people affected.

Companies should ONLY retain this information until the transaction clears (minutes), then delete it.

Cash is going to come back in a big way.
 
Why even use a debit card?

Cash or Credit is the way to go.

With a Debit card, the scum can wipe out your checking account.

With a credit card, all that really happens is you have to report fraud to get your money back and get a new card issued.

Using a Debit card is stupid. Disputing a fraudulent debit charge is a horrid process compared to disputing a fraudulent credit charge.

Plus, with a debit card, if they get your info they can send it as an electronic check. And there is absolutely no way to dispute that as I have found out in the past.
 
I prefer credit because it protects me against fradulent charges, and I won't have to deal with change. Oh, and it lets me buy things I can't afford.
 
I don't even have a debit card. No reason to use them over credit really, due to reasons already mentioned. Just pay it off every month and you're golden.
 
Ever wonder the government doesn't make it illegal to hang on to the data? Because they don't want to.

Even when the government steps in and fines these companies....The money goes to the government....not the people affected.

Companies should ONLY retain this information until the transaction clears (minutes), then delete it.

Cash is going to come back in a big way.


I've written my share of process flows for point of sale systems and I can tell you that it's very rare that these companies are actually retaining the data in an unencrypted format. Instead, what's happening is they're behind the times a bit and the malware is scraping the memory for plaintext data before it is encrypted. Even if these companies retained NOTHING, it would not protect against this sort of attack. The fix here is to institute hardware level encryption (credit card swiper) so it can never touch your network in an unencrypted manner.
 
Why even use a debit card?

Cash or Credit is the way to go.
With a Debit card, the scum can wipe out your checking account.
With a credit card, all that really happens is you have to report fraud to get your money back and get a new card issued.
Using a Debit card is stupid. Disputing a fraudulent debit charge is a horrid process compared to disputing a fraudulent credit charge.
Plus, with a debit card, if they get your info they can send it as an electronic check. And there is absolutely no way to dispute that as I have found out in the past.


This.
I've never used debit card except at an ATM.
Several years ago my bank wanted to give me a Debit card (to replace my ATM card), and they couldn't under stand why I said no. They kept insisting how the debit card could be used at so many place.

Besides, I get anywhere from 1% to 5% back when using my credit cards.
The biggest problem I have is trying to remember which card to use to get the most cash back. :)

The only time I use cash is when it's a small purchase (like lunch) or when I'm traveling and I don't trust the tourist trap the wife is buying some nick-nack from.

And of course I always pay them off every month. I don't buy something on a credit card unless I already have the money sitting in the bank to pay it off.
 
Why even use a debit card?

Cash or Credit is the way to go.

With a Debit card, the scum can wipe out your checking account.

With a credit card, all that really happens is you have to report fraud to get your money back and get a new card issued.

Using a Debit card is stupid. Disputing a fraudulent debit charge is a horrid process compared to disputing a fraudulent credit charge.

Plus, with a debit card, if they get your info they can send it as an electronic check. And there is absolutely no way to dispute that as I have found out in the past.

I know I keep hearing this over and over, but It's really not that big of a deal. My debit card was fraudulently used twice in the span of a month. Went to the bank filled out a form and my money was back in my account the next day. And that was with a notoriously bad bank with terrible customer service.
 
I know I keep hearing this over and over, but It's really not that big of a deal. My debit card was fraudulently used twice in the span of a month. Went to the bank filled out a form and my money was back in my account the next day. And that was with a notoriously bad bank with terrible customer service.

+1

Had $2-3k stolen via online charges on my debit card at Wells Fargo. 1-2 calls, a list of transactions and a week later, all money was returned.

But as others have said, using credit cards still makes more sense. If charges are made, its not coming out of your immediate cash pool AND you generally can get better perks (miles cash back etc).

Then again if you can't handle credit, stick with debit.
 
Good luck buying things from Amazon/Newegg/etc. with cash.
I wish they would adopt other methods of pay in the States as they do here in Japan. Amazon Japan can take direct bank wires, payments kiosks at every convenience store, or directly from the ATM. I`ve used CC on Amazon a few times only. Otherwise, bank transfer or ATM. Payments clear within minutes (confirmation email hits as I am walking back to the office).
 
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