if they clean out your checking account, you're screwed. Do like fred; keep a minimal amount in the checking account and transfer funds from savings only when needed to pay bills. Using a debit card anywhere is asking for trouble. This isn't news, debit card transactions have been easy targets for identity thieves since they day they debuted. The Target theft brought this to light in a big way.
Only credit cards give you protection against fraud so always hit the credit button when using a debit card. If your debit card can't be used as a CC, then carry and pay with cash. The U.S. is far behind the rest of the world in CC technology. Most other countries use RF ID chips rather than the old-style mag stripes we have here. It has been noted that US banks are being urged to switch to RF ID chips and dump the mag stripes but it will cost big bucks to make the change in the US. A number of banks have indicated that if and when they do switch to RF ID technology, some of the fraud protections will be eliminated pushing more responsibility on the card user and merchant. Get yourself an RF ID shielded wallet in preparation for the changeover and protect yourself from that liability.
I have two checking accounts. One for paying bills via my banks Web site and the other for writing checks. The account for check writing has a minimal amount of funds, which I replenish once a check is written against it. This way, if someone steals my checking account number, the thief will only be able to take a small amount out of this secondary account. Today, I had my bank issue a debit card for this account. I can always transfer funds from my primary account to this minor account. Of course, I seldom use the debit card for my primary account, but now I have added security.
I thought I would share this with the TER community as a possible way for everyone to protect themselves from identity theft, or from someone stealing your banking account number or debit card number and pin.
One minor additional suggestion: whenever possible, use the card as a credit card, not as a debit card. Consumer protections are much stronger when run as credit. If you enter a PIN, it's a debit transaction.
On a side note, supposedly encrypted PIN data was lifted as well as the mag stripe data. Target claims that the decryption keys were not taken as part of the data breach. I have no knowledge of the particular encryption method used, but, as a general rule, shorter strings are easier to decrypt than longer strings. I'd hope that the PINs are padded or lengthened beyond a 4-6 character string for encryption.
I mostly use my credit card, but Audi only accepts debit cards. I would use a debit card if I am in a pinch for cash. However, in the future, the debit card for the account with a minimal balance will be used. With online banking, one can always transfer funds immediately
if they clean out your checking account, you're screwed. Do like fred; keep a minimal amount in the checking account and transfer funds from savings only when needed to pay bills. Using a debit card anywhere is asking for trouble. This isn't news, debit card transactions have been easy targets for identity thieves since they day they debuted. The Target theft brought this to light in a big way.
Only credit cards give you protection against fraud so always hit the credit button when using a debit card. If your debit card can't be used as a CC, then carry and pay with cash.
The U.S. is far behind the rest of the world in CC technology. Most other countries use RF ID chips rather than the old-style mag stripes we have here. It has been noted that US banks are being urged to switch to RF ID chips and dump the mag stripes but it will cost big bucks to make the change in the US. A number of banks have indicated that if and when they do switch to RF ID technology, some of the fraud protections will be eliminated pushing more responsibility on the card user and merchant. Get yourself an RF ID shielded wallet in preparation for the changeover and protect yourself from that liability.
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