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Safety Tips for Protecting Your Debit Card
CPAs recommend that you know the risks and take precautions to protect your debit card. Here are some helpful tips:
• The best protection is to keep your debit card secure at all times and your PIN (personal identification number) a secret. Don’t use parts of your birth date, phone number or Social Security number as your PIN. And memorize your number, so you don’t have to write it down anywhere.
• Carefully check your purchase or transaction before you enter your PIN or before you sign the receipt because funds are quickly transferred out of your deposit account.
• If you have the option, choose a card that is PIN based rather than one that just requires a signature. With a PIN-based debit card you have to know the PIN number to make a purchase. With a signature-based card, anyone could pick up the card and use it.
• Review your statement carefully and promptly each month and check your balance in between. Remember, your card does not have to be missing in order for it to be misused. All thieves need are your name and card number to order goods by mail or over the telephone. Your bank account can be wiped out before you know the card is missing, or while the card is still in your wallet.
Finally, the Colorado Society of CPAs points out the key to using any credit or debit card wisely is to keep spending within your means.
Let’s Review __________________________________
On the topic of debit card dangers, Mellody Hobson, the personal finance expert on ABC’s Good Morning America television program, offered the following helpful information in a question-and-answer format about the use of debit cards:
Using Debit, Check and ATM Cards
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