ATM Cards! eEEEK!

[PigsnieLite]

Do you have an ATM card or a debit card? Isnt that the same thing? Do you use yours a lot? Im scared of using mine. A lot of times, I just go to my da, give him a cheque, and then he gives me cash becuz my da doesNT like credit cards, so he has stash of cash in his drawer always.

[dragrat]

Why have a fear of plastic? It is the most easiest way to receive & or spend money. 'ATM card' is basically any card to you receive from the bank. It can either be debit or credit. It just gets more confusing when you can either have a mastercard or visa, Basically Visa, as I know it, is acceptable throughout the world more so than mastercard.

I personally, have debit mastercard. So this means I am only able to use money that I own but can use the card in a 'credit' like way. i.e. online flight purchases, concerts or performances, etc. So its the easiest way for me to conduct a lot of transactions from one area, online.

[PigsnieLite]

My bank account wuz compromised last week, so I fear all plastics!

[Wart]

I don't use atm cards. Its too great a temptation to carry one. I have one credit card that I will only use for emergencies. Carrying cash makes me think twice about spending money. I think that's the concept behind a debit card.

Debit cards reduce your checking account unlike a credit card where you borrow money and you pay interest if you do not pay your balance in full.

Just don't lose that debit card!

www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/your-money/credit-and-debit-cards/primercards.html

[Avril]

I have a debit card for all daily and online expenses. I've never been charged interest because I've always transferred money from my managed investment/super account in time to cover it if I've spent more than my overdraft limit.

I have no debts and that's the way I like to keep things. A credit card would entail debt, so that's not an option.

Arch, when you say your account was compromised, was it through an ATM card or credit card? Was your card skimmed? I must say that's one thought that terrifies me. It's also why I keep only enough to cover my overdraft limit in that account.

[PigsnieLite]

I wuz footling about online one night when I footled my way to my bank account. And LO and Behold -- there wuz 300 quids charged by a company I never heard of. It wasnt attached to my ATM or to some waywurd cheque. It just showed up on my account as if sprung from the forehead of Hera! Eeeek! Terrified that this company might steal my future warehouse full of Cambodian mosquito net, I called the bank immediately and told them an Online Madoff had stolen my money. After calming me down by offering me a cuppa of virtual Final Fantasy tea, the bank told me to just come in asap and they would cancel my account, open a new one, and then they would try to get my money back. It took 5 days and a lot of signage on my part, but the thieves were foiled & blocked from my future millions, thank goodness!

Lesson: Check your account online everyday or every other day. Once weekly is too long.

[Avril]

Have they worked out how they got access? (Don't tell me how, if so, just if they discovered the method.)

[PigsnieLite]

No, they didnt tell me how this company did it. The banker (a dapper looking gent wearing a tie decorated wid teeny tennis rackets) asked me a few questions (had I ever bought anything from them, etc etc etc) ; they investigated ; and then, I got a letter saying they had concluded their investigation and I wuz getting my money back; and they gave it back to me in cash when I returned to the bank. I wuz rather impressed.

[Avril]

hmm, do you ever worry about being hacked like Salander can do in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo?

[sunfrog]

I have a reloadable credit card. I've been using it ever since my bank account was hacked and someone bought a $400 pair of shoes with my money. It's kind of annoying loading up my card whenever I want to buy something from the internet but oh well.

[PigsnieLite]

Ive never read GIRL WID THE DRAGON TATTOO. Did you get your money back, Sunfroggy?

[sunfrog]

Yes, they looked into it and gave me back the money electronically.

[Frito Freddie]

I pay for everything in cash. Just the idea of giving your card to a waiter or a cashier! No telling where they'll take that card. So easy to order online nowadays! Who checks your signature on an online order. I buy big tickets items on Amazon or other web sites who have been around a long time. I've never had any problems. (Freddie knocks on wood.)