rkp@drufl.UUCP (Pierce) (04/04/84)
The Choice card is now very big in the Denver area. If I didn't already have a MasterCard (with no annual fee), I would think about getting a Choice card.
ron@brl-vgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (04/05/84)
Wonderful, now that I don't live in Denver anymore, my Choice card is good there. Oh, well. At least my PLUS card is good in Baltimore and New York. -Ron
ward@hao.UUCP (Mike Ward) (04/09/84)
[]
A debit card is *NOT* covered by the same protection that a credit card
is. If someone steals your card number (and not the card itself), you'll
never know it until you find your bank account wiped out. And you'll
never get that money back.
--
Michael Ward, NCAR/SCD
UUCP: {hplabs,nbires,brl-bmd,seismo,menlo70}!hao!ward
BELL: 303-497-1252
USPS: POB 3000, Boulder, CO 80307ted@teldata.UUCP (04/16/84)
*********** The Schwab One acount is the same and the card and checks are on Bank One.
kenner@acf4.UUCP (04/19/84)
I can't speak for all debit cards, but I know this is not true of the VISA card you get with a Merill Lynch CMA account. When I got my card (from Bank One of Columbus, Ohio), enclosed was a flyer explaining the standard provisions of the consumer credit law. Specifically mentioned was a limitation of liability to at most $50 if you did not notify them before the illegal usage after a theft and nothing if you did (it is my understanding, by the way, that Merill Lynch has insurance to protect against even this $50 loss). In general all provisions of the protection applied to credit cards seemed to apply. I confirmed the loss provisions with the Account Executive. When I saw the agreement with Bank One covering the VISA card, I noticed something that I thought was strange at the time. The way the CMA account works is that you have an account at Merill Lynch which is basically a standard margin securities account in which all cash balances are automatically invested in a money-market fund. As you write checks or incur VISA charges, Bank One notifies Merill Lynch daily and your account is debited (technically, shares in a money-market account are redeemed). Thus the authorization limit is the sum of all cash balance (momentary), the funds in the money-market account, and the marginable portion of all securities in the account. What the Bank One agreement said was that Bank One reserved the right to extend credit IN ADDITION to the authorization limit described above. If they did this, there would be a standard monthly charge. At the time I read this, I was wondering why Bank One which ever extend such credit. Now I think I understand. The purpose of this provision was precisely to make the card a credit card for the purposes of consumer protection. As I said, I don't know about other debit cards in other arrangments. But you should read your agreement carefully and you may find such language.