<p>Yup, I can see that happening, LasMa.</p>
<p>Those little slips of paper floating around and not getting to their destination. I imagine I can develop a system with time.<br>
And I do check my account online every day or two so I would catch it there and be able to add it in then.
Thanks for the heads up.</p>
<p>The biggest problem I have with using a debit card is in case of an error. When I use my credit card, and they charge me for something that I dispute, I don’t have to pay. When I use my debit card, if a debit is made that I dispute, the bank doesn’t have to give me my money back until the dispute is resolved, and then it takes some time. I’ve had friends whose other checks have bounced because of an incorrect debit - usually debiting a purchase twice rather than once.</p>
<p>If you must use your debit, as you mentioned, use it for the smallest possible amounts, and such an overcharge is less likely to occur.</p>
<p>I am very much against debit cards. That is because my account was fraudulently drained while I was out of the country. Sure, I ultimately received all my $$ back, but I was lucky as I had another account so I had access to other funds. There are many ways to get free checking. With respect to fraud, a credit card is much safer than a debit card</p>
<p>Actually, give all the technology, it would be pretty easy to protect debit cards if the pin was always required. The big problem is that you can actually use it as a credit card without the pin, so anyone having possession of the card can use it. H&I have an account in another country that has a debit card, but there it can only be used with the pin #. So even if you lose it, it’s stolen, etc., it can’t be used.</p>
<p>Ended up using it to get gas at an automatic station that wouldn’t accept our US cc or cash.</p>
<p>We are trying to teach elderly MIL to use the card. Of course, she can’t remember the pin# and prefers to write checks, but I walked her through it 3-4 times. I told her to write the pin in her checkbook as an entry that only she would recognize, such as a check to us. There will soon be places that only accept cards or cash and not checks.
The telephone is still hi-tech to her (regularly old land line, not cell phone or cordless).</p>
<p>Another thing I like is the portable hand held devices for processing ccs & debits that they have all over Europe. No need for a server to take your card into another room to process payment.</p>
<p>Following all these good posts…I am concerned about the possible lack of security with debit vs credit card as some others are.
I might try using the debit card for some small purchases just to get the checking acct fee waived and see how I like it.</p>
<p>I agree that within a few years checks will be obsolete. Some stores by us in NJ already do not accept them.</p>
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<p>Sounds like a good plan. There are some lower risk transactions where you don’t have to worry too much. If you’re paying at the checkout where you swipe the card yourself and punch in the pin the security risk is quite low. </p>
<p>However, if you give the card to someone else (eg at a restaurant) or use the card online then the risk of fraud is much higher. Personally, I would never use a debit card in either of those situations. </p>
<p>Personally I use my credit card as much as I can for transactions and then pay the balance in full every month. I like the fact that those transactions are not directly linked to my bank account and if there is any security breach I’m not directly out any money until it gets sorted out. If you use a credit card with a good rewards program you can get some decent bonus perks too (although one must always consider any annual fee to judge how much ‘free’ stuff you’re really getting). </p>
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Even with stores that still do accept checks, most no longer process them in the traditional fashion (eg sending it into the bank for cashing where you’ll eventually see images of the canceled check available in your account). Instead they scan the check and use the bank’s routing number and your account number to setup a one time electronic fund transfer (the same sort of thing most people do with online bill pay to utilities and such). If you’ve paid by check and noticed the cashier running it through a little scanning device then that’s likely what’s taking place. </p>
<p>P.S. These days almost all debit cards are run via the Visa/MC networks, but anyone remember MAC cards?</p>
<p>Personally, I try to charge as much as possible with my 2% cashback credit card. I pay my credit card bills by phone using my checking account routing # and only rarely write checks any more. Checks are still free at many accounts in our state. </p>
<p>Some are starting to charge if you speak with a teller & do in-person transactions, which I still favor doing. My banks do NOT charge for this. Some places charge you if you wish to speak to a person when paying by phone–I always ask & if they do, I tell them I prefer to use the automated FREE system.</p>
<p>Mostly, I use my checks for gifts or reimbursement of expenses, so I have a “paper trail.” I’m still happy to have a free checking account. I really don’t like my debit cards but find them useful when travelling abroad. For a while, you got a pretty good interest rate at my credit union if you did 10 debit transactions + one direct deposit or auto payment/month. The interest rate declined from 4% to 3.5% to 3% & now 2%, all in just a few months, so I’m slowly transferring our funds elsewhere.</p>
<p>Kick your bank to the curb.</p>
<p>Somewhere near you there is a Credit Union that you can join:
[Credit</a> Union Online](<a href=“Home Page - NCUA CUOnline”>Home Page - NCUA CUOnline)</p>
<p>For multiple reasons, we have accumulated membership at four different credit unions. All of them offer basic free checking. Yes, we have to pay to print the checks if we order more than one box of checks each year, but if we did write a bazillion checks, we could order them from one of those cheap check companies or buy the kind of computer software that lets us do it at home.</p>
<p>I don’t like debit cards because of the situation dewscribed by jmmom. Our bank sent a letter saying we were getting new credit card #s and cards because of this TJMaxx hack — they were one of the banks affected. </p>
<p>Nothing happened to our card but it is possible our info was stolen and someone is waiting somewhere to use it. If that ever does happen, we are covered because it is a credit card and we have no debit ones. </p>
<p>I use checks at the grocery (and I write all but the amount as I am in line) and credit cards many other places, and pay in full monthly.</p>