Avoid These Debit Card Traps (page 3 of 3)

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I was living paycheck to paycheck. I didn't have much extra in my account, and this $75 charge worried me all weekend

Steer Clear of Hidden Fees

At the end of the week, most of us pull a wad of debit receipts out of our wallets and purses. Do we religiously record these amounts? Probably not. And even a $5 purchase can cause you to overdraw if your balance is tight.

"Banks sometimes change the order of transactions at night. They take your biggest transactions and run them first," says Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. By manipulating the order of checks and debits, banks can cause you to overdraw sooner and more often than you thought, earning huge overdraft fees for themselves. Debit purchases and withdrawals are now the single largest cause of customer overdrafts, according to the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). "Five years ago, if you didn't have enough money in your account to buy something, your card would be declined," says Leslie Parrish, a CRL senior researcher. Today banks extend "courtesy overdraft loans," the financial euphemism for letting you overdraw and then charging you for it. Charges average $34 per transaction and add up to an estimated $17.5 billion in annual fees for financial institutions, says the CRL.

Avoid the Trap

Link your checking account to another account in case you overdraw. The fee, if any, is much lower than overdraft loans. If you incur fees, banks will often waive them if you ask. Some banks offer e-mail or text-message alerts if your balance gets too low. That could be a warning that someone has copied your card or charged you incorrectly.

What's Next?

If you thought debit cards were popular now, just wait. The young tech-savvy generation is entering its prime earning and spending phase of life, and they live by their debit cards.

All the more reason for debit card security to step up a notch. Brad Lipman, the man who lost $1,800 at a restaurant (his credit union eventually returned his money, including overdraft fees) was inspired to develop TablePay, a device that allows diners to safely swipe their debit cards right at their tables. Before long, U.S. debit card issuers may embed electronic chips in cards' magnetic strips, predicts Litan, the security specialist. These sophisticated cards are much harder to copy and use fraudulently.

And that's good, since even fraud victims like Lipman aren't willing to part with their debit cards. "I just can't give up the convenience," he says.

 

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On a recent trip to the post office, I took a few minutes to read the notices posted on the public bulletin board in the lobby. One in particular caught my eye. It read “Lost in post-office parking lot, small boa constrictor, family pet, will not attack. Reward.”Below the notice someone had written, in what appeared to be very shaky handwriting: “Please, would you mind posting another notice when you find your boa? Thank you.”   

-- Susan Esbensen