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I was making my usual rant about how dumb it is to use a debit card for
*anything* [unless you just can't get a credit card] and the guys at work
said that there's a "new" kind of debit card that looks and acts *exactly*
like a credit card: it says "visa" on it, there's no PIN number, when you
use it and the machine asks you "credit or debit" you say "credit"... the
only difference is that it is *actually* a debit card in disguise. They
claimed that this is OK [and blunts much of my rant about why debit cards
are dumb] because the FCBA now applies to them since they're "Visa" cards,
and look and act like credit cards.
I claimed that that's not true: that FCBA addresses what the card [and what
the underlying account] *IS* rather than what sort of halloween masquerade
they've dreamt up to hide its true underlying nature. [In fact, I pointed
out that FCBA doesn't even make any *sense* in this context: since the
money is already *GONE* from your checking account [and other checks may be
bouncing, your credit report might be getting a bit of a trashing,
etc...thank you for having a stupid debit card!], the idea of 15 days to
dispute this and 30 days to resolve that doesn't help you much [what? At
the end of 60 days of appeals and responses they'll put the money back in
your checking acct???].
Anyhow, I claim that FCBA does *NOT* apply and using the
debit-card-masquerading-as-a-credit-card is just as foolish as just using a
plain debit card. [actually much much worse: as feeble as the PIN number
is, at least it provides a *little* bit of security. I'm told that these
DC-m-a-a-CC don't require one, so someone finding [or stealing] the thing
can just empty your checking account without even raising a sweat...]. Am
I misunderstanding FCBA or are these new types of debit cards really as
dangerous as they appear to be? [NB: I'm not asking about whether particular
offerers of these hidde-debit-cards might make other contractual provisions to
protect customers from losses, *ONLY* whether the federal law applies to them].
/Bernie\
--
Bernie Cosell Fantasy Farm Fibers
bernie@fantasyfarm.com Pearisburg, VA
--> Too many people, too few sheep <--
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