Prime Rate Credit

It appears that having a debit card fraudulently used may be a much worse thing than having an occurrence involving theft with a credit card. According to a news story that recently broke on the recent breach of consumer information involving retail outlets TJ Maxx and it’s partners, credit card consumers were pretty much covered after their identities were stolen and their credit cards were charged with fraudulent charges, while the debit card customers who were impacted may have been left unprotected by current laws, which say that credit card companies cannot hold individuals accountable for fraudulently brought charges on a credit card.

That’s where the law appears to get hazy on debit cards, not really providing specific recourse or relief for those with debit cards who are victims of fraudulently made credit card and debit card charges.

Apparently the problem lies in the extent of liability, and how soon you happen to discover your card was used against your wishes and report it to the financial institution for investigation. You will usually owe more, a lot more, if you do not discover the fraudulent activity for a while, which is the problem. This must mean that credit card companies have a much longer “statute of limitations” when it comes to credit card vs. debit card identity theft and fraudulent charges being brought by a thief.

There may be some changes in this though, seeing how the debit cards are becoming so much more popular now than they were when they first came out. The greatest thing about debit cards is that when you charge something, you’re not really “charging” it, but rather deducting from money you know you have, instead of racking up debt against funds that are only there when you pay them in the future! They’re definitely a way to stay out of bad credit card debt I suppose!