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Debit Card Concerns. Profits Hide Truth About Your Risks.

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For years banks have lied and hidden the reality of debit cards from you. What I’m about to tell you will sound counter-intuitive from everything you’ve been taught and believe. Here it is. Don’t use a debit card. It’s not smart financial management.

By now, you probably think that I’ve lost my mind, but before you judge me, do some homework. What you will find is that:

  • when using a debit card,
  • a thief has easier access to steal your money,
  • there is a greater chance of you having your bank account drained,
  • you have a much higher chance of incurring bank fees and overdraft charges due to point of sale mistakes,
  • You don’t have a buffer between a transaction and your bank account,
  • and extra money in your account can be placed off-limits for days while a merchant releases or processes an authorization for a transaction.

If getting smart about debit cards doesn’t make you think, then explain why the federal consumer protection laws are significantly different between credit and debit cards?

A credit card gives you much more consumer protection and safety, but the banks never tell you that. Nor does your bank tell you that they make far more debit card transaction fees than on a credit card transaction.

People say they don’t want to use a credit card because they want to avoid debt. Well, pay the bill off in full each month or come home from shopping and send a payment off to the card. It’s the same result; you are using a financial transaction to purchase without any residual debt.

When a crook gets your credit card information, you don’t have just a few days to spot the problem; the money does not come out of your checking account, you won’t incur overdraft fees from P.O.S. mistake, you’ll have many more legal protections and the credit card company staff will help you fight your battle.

See also  Weekly Syndicated Get Out of Debt Column February 6, 2015

The bottom line is not to assume that a debit card is a smarter card to use just because some assumed that was true.

Steve Rhode
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Steve Rhode
Steve Rhode is the Get Out of Debt Guy and has been helping good people with bad debt problems since 1994. You can learn more about Steve, here.
Steve Rhode
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