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0 pointsdguest4y ago0 comments

I've had people make fraudulent charges on my debit card. The answer to your question: It wasn't a big deal.

The bank contacted me immediately and said they noticed strange behavior on my card and had thus blocked it. They sent me a transcript with the obvious fraudulent charges highlighted, and asked me to identify any additional ones.

When I asked about reimbursement the man sighed and said they might not get everything back, but then quickly corrected himself: they were legally required to reimburse me, it was just the bank that would potentially loose some money. I had everything back in my account within 24 hours.

So I have a question, to people who warn me of the dangers of debit card fraud and preach the advantages of credit: was I just exceptionally lucky with my bank? My bank was just a run-of-the-mill small town local bank, I wouldn't have expected anything extraordinary out of them. But yet their response to fraud was stellar. It's really left me wondering what all the hype is about.

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perl4ever4y ago

I don't have a horror story to tell. In general, I don't want to rely on the customer service of my credit union (or the regional bank that I used to use).

>I had everything back in my account within 24 hours

That's the thing though, they take your money, rather than the banks, even if briefly. Does it matter? I don't know, but it seems like a quantifiable risk.

I think that banks are privileged in some way, in being able to take what they claim you owe them, from any accounts with them.

So my theory is that it's prudent to be paying via some third party on general principles. I don't even use a credit card from the same bank that has my checking. Partly because of inferior terms and customer service, but partly to avoid them having leverage in a dispute.

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