Credit cards vs Debt cards

[mmc45414]

I write about 2 checks a year. One I hand directly to the coworker we buy beef from, and the other I take to the USPS branch and put it in the box inside the 24 hour lobby. The last time I pulled through there they had a regular mailbox chained down in the drive through, because someone had broken into one of the big boxes in the drive through. Keep in mind that this branch is at our main post office and is occupied 24/7, and presumably has postal inspectors or security watching the cameras.

Recent news here is we were experiencing actual armed robberies with dirtbags confronting postal workers and taking their keys, and then running around stealing mail from boxes. No way is it practical to change the locks on all the physical mailboxes.

I finally got my mother to stop using her debit card. She had a check not reach her issuer, and now my brother drives her to a branch twice a month to pay her balance. I'd try to get her to pay electronically but she enjoys the socialization, and refuses to get on the computer any more.[/URL]

I got my mother to quit writing checks and sticking them in her mailbox at the curb, after getting her to contemplate how many things could go wrong and how many sinister things could be done if someone endeavored to. My original intent was to show her how to do it online, and pretty quick I figured out this was going to mean I was going to do it online. We set up almost everything to be automatic and the few things that were clunky she send me an email with the amount and I login and do a bill-pay. I also got her to understand she didn't need to wait until a bill was due to pay it, that since she only gets income once a month when a bill comes once a month we can just pay it.

And the small bank branch right near her house closed for covid and never reopened. She was understandably uncomfortable going to the ATM, so she would go to the teller and cash a check. Now every so often we go withdraw a stack of twenties, or I give her some of mine and login and pay myself back.

Finally, I didn't stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night, but I did just listen to 2 hours on Primary and Secondary about financial crime. I highly recommend it [P&S Modcast 356

That looks interesting, got it in the queue.

Wife works in fraud at a major US Bank and I have been in banking for almost 30 years. We use a credit card for everything and pay it off every couple of days.

Sounds like an SME here...
Curious why you bother to pay it every few days? Is it logging interest throughout the month?

[mtnbkr]

Curious why you bother to pay it every few days? Is it logging interest throughout the month?

It's not. Interest doesn't start to accrue until the purchase is 30 days old. That said, I also pay off every few days so I keep on top of things. Having a balance sitting there, even if I'm going to pay it off, bothers me.

Chris

[MickAK]

If you don't use CC you're essentially subsidizing my use of one due to prices raised to cover fees. That's honestly not a great situation and I would prefer the way things are in a lot of Europe but that's the way it is.

I'm not sure what people ITT are doing to get your CC info hacked so often but you might want to look into that because there's not really any reason for that to happen.

[octagon]

Recently it seems that I've had to replace debt cards every 6 months or so due to fraud and online use. I'll admit it's convenient but damn the hassle is becoming bothersome. We have debit cards but no credit cards. I understand the difference in that the credit card payment comes due every month and there's a heavy price to pay (interest) if you don't pay the amount due in full. That wouldn't be the case for us as we have no debt other than the day to day stuff like food, utilities and fuel. In other words we don't play the credit/loan game.

I just got off the phone with the bank to dispute two charges in the last few days. About all they would say is we have to investigate this. OK, investigate it, but if I end up paying it the debit card gets cut up.

Anyway, my question to those that only use a credit card, Is this more secure than a debit card. Do credit cards make it easier to track down a charge. I see all manor of coding on debit transactions, including bogus phone numbers, and I can't figure out where some of those charges came from. My wife also uses that card and can't remember if she charged a certain item or not, so it's up to me to figure out if it's legit.

My neighbor, who was in business for a long time and worth a few million, says to ditch the debit cards.

Instead of deciding between credit and debit cards consider using virtual cards or a privacy service like Privacy.com You can set up multiple cards for each service you have like Netflix, Amazon, water bill, gas, electric or others and they get a specific card number. You can also set limits so Netflix cannot charge more than $20 so no double charges or access to more funds. This way if one source is compromised you don't have to cancel the credit or debit card and put all the new card info in at every place you use either just the one compromised service. No new credit card no new debit card, you know where it was compromised and the party that has the compromised card number only has limited access to limited funds for a limited time.

https://privacy.com/unique-card-number

https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-...t-card-numbers

[mmc45414]

It's not. Interest doesn't start to accrue until the purchase is 30 days old. That said, I also pay off every few days so I keep on top of things. Having a balance sitting there, even if I'm going to pay it off, bothers me.

I get ya, my method is a bit of a compromise. Since we get paid fifty times a year I am dealing with it every week or two (max), and when I do I sweep the checking account down to what it will need to cover automatic withdrawals until the next payday. I agree if it was a whole thirty days that might bug me. And... In a couple of years we will on be getting paid twelve times, so my method may be up for tweaking.

[hufnagel]

I use a credit card over a debit card, even though my debit card can double as a credit card.

My bank does a great job of helping solve issues with questionable/fraudulent charges, but even still I have had a new credit card issued to me at least once due to fraudulent charges. But I'd say credit cards are less vulnerable than debit cards.

The way we use a credit card is to buy everything with it, accumulate bunches of redeemable points, and pay it off each month to avoid interest.

this.
and not having something directly tied to my bank account, prevents it from "accidentally" being nuked by a bad actor.
I like having the buffer between my income and my expenses.

and regarding the points thing, I believe I've talked about doing that in other posts. WHEN MANAGED PROPERLY, you can save quite a bit of cash (~$8000 in cash back in the past 6 years), self-finance short term projects (ex: $3600 bathroom remodel, on an 18 month 0% interest card, plus 1-3% back, plus $200 cash back bonus, being paid off $300/month), by taking advantage of various offers and programs.
YOU NEED TO BE DISCIPLINED THOUGH.

[RoyGBiv]

It's not. Interest doesn't start to accrue until the purchase is 30 days old. That said, I also pay off every few days so I keep on top of things. Having a balance sitting there, even if I'm going to pay it off, bothers me.

Chris

I can appreciate that feeling....

I only pre-pay when we make a "very large" purchase on the cc... We bought a new A/C unit in the early summer, for example... No extra fees from the installer for paying by cc, so, we were happy to have the cc bonus on the purchase.

[CDW4ME]

Debit card fraud - money is gone from account, try to get it back.
Credit card fraud - charge(s) on card I didn't do, I'm not paying.

Try to get it back VS I'm not paying

[NWshooter]

Sounds like an SME here...
Curious why you bother to pay it every few days? Is it logging interest throughout the month?

We pay it off every couple of days only because we look at it daily.

I think she looks at it daily to make sure there are no purchases from LTT.com

[JMag]

Debit card fraud - money is gone from account, try to get it back.
Credit card fraud - charge(s) on card I didn't do, I'm not paying.

Try to get it back VS I'm not paying

It is said that debit card protection is much better than in the past.