I’m a heavy credit card user, I always have been, and probably always will be. I’ve never had a spending problem. Something interesting I’ve found about credit cards is they are great at handling disputes.
In the past month, I’ve bought some items online and found the experience to be unsatisfactory. I immediately contacted the seller on ebay for two of the items, and the third item the website owner. The website owner refunded my money, but I had already talked to my CC company and they were disputing the charges on my behalf! Awesome, less than 24 hours later I had my refund no questions asked.
As for the ebay items, I actually paid using paypal, but made sure I used a credit card. Darn glad I did because I bought 2 sets of diaper coupons online, but received neither. I started a resolution investigation through paypal, which was fine.
But at the same time I talked with my CC and told them what was happening and they immediately put holds on the charges and began disputing them as well. I did explain that I was working with paypal to resolve the situation. One seller refused to respond and the other had excuses why I hadn’t received my shipment. With my CC company disputing, Paypal found in my favor.
Yep, I get credit cards are NOT good tools for everyone. Actually they really suck for many people. They can facilitate overspending in many people, although I think it’s the people not the credit cards.
But I can only say I plan to exclusively use CC to shop online, I’m never going to use a debit card ever. I can’t imagine the hassle with not receiving my items or getting the wrong item and having to fight to get my money back cash. For me, the extra security from shopping with a credit card is well worth it the risk. The bottom line is personal finance is personal and everyone is different.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Meg // Nov 4, 2009 at 10:44 am
If your debit card has a Visa logo, it has the same consumer protections as a Visa when run as “credit”.
I believe it’s similar with most other companies, as well.
2 amy // Nov 4, 2009 at 12:52 pm
I use my credit card for everything as well. I’m not irresponsible with my credit, I pay it off every month, and I figure—if I am going to buy (groceries, gas, ski pass, prescriptions, whatever) anyway, why not get mileage on my airline credit card? I score about 2 free RT tickets a year with that card.
Costco, unfortunately does not accept my airline credit card, so I have to use a debit card there (that’s the only time I use my debit card).
3 Ian Smith // Nov 4, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Meg is correct. Say you have both a Visa debit and Visa credit card. Disputes are handled through Visa in either case and not through the bank that issued it. The same is true for Mastercard.
4 Lindsay // Nov 4, 2009 at 2:55 pm
I use my credit card for everything too, and pay it off each month. It actually makes budgeting easier for my husband and I. Since we both use cards on the same account, we can see how much we’ve collectively spent at any given time.
Also, even though VISA debit cards technically offer protection, in my experience it is much harder to convince the back to fight for “my” money vs. “their” money. And, since I pay all of our bills from our checking account, I hate to imagine any money being unavailable due to fraud or other problems, even for a few days.
5 Meg // Nov 4, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Meg & Ian – That’s not entirely true; it can be a lot harder to deal with your bank than your credit card company, which is what you have to do if there’s a dispute on your debit card.
While you’re entitled to some of the same consumer protections, it is a lot harder because the money is coming out of your bank account. If somebody overcharges you or steals your card and racks up purchases, it can take days or even weeks to get the money back into your checking account (if you’re a good customer usually they’ll give you immediate credit while they investigate, but not always, and not usually if you’ve claimed fraudulent activity already that year).
Also it can cause you to rack up overdraft fees when other items go through, which aren’t always covered in the dispute resolution anyway.
6 LAL // Nov 7, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Meg and Ian, I agree with the second Meg. I can’t imagine waiting for these debits to come back to my bank account instead of just a CC.
I’m not saying it’s a hardship, it wouldn’t be, but I’d be pissed if I were “waiting” a MONTH to have paypal and visa investigate and the money is NOT immediately put back into a checking account.
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