Because it covers all blizz games not just WOW.

Usually a debit card (aka a check card) is linked to a bank account - need to have funds in that account to use it. Credit card is goes against your credit line.

Both you can get money back if frauded. Its just a lot more inconvenient if your debit gets frauded because that is liquid assets you are temporarily missing, while a credit card is more dangerous because that is your credit rating and you pay interest on credit charges if you dont catch the bad charges.

I've never been hacked. The worst I ever got was a Trovi Search browser invasion.

As I mentioned, all you need with a credit card is the numbers, a debit card you have to actually have it with you so you can swipe it through the machine. If anyone hacks a business where you're given out your credit card number, then you are at risk. So no, it's not more secure.

That's not true, you can buy things online with only the debit card number, just like how you buy things online with just a credit card number. You can also issue a charge back through a credit card, and the money isn't drawn directly from your account. It's widely accepted that credit cards are more secure than debit cards, I don't know why you're trying to argue otherwise.

@OP I would assume that you got "hacked" by another service you use having its passwords compromised and then you using the same (or similar) password on Origin.

No it isn't.

http://www.atmmarketplace.com/blogs/fed-study-finds-that-atm-debit-might-be-safer-than-credit-cards/

I have never seen that option anywhere. Any site I've looked at requires either a credit card number or a PayPal transaction. At any rate, I would never transmit my debit card number online, just like I would never use a credit card number. My debit card will never be used for anything but local purchases, with PayPal taking care of my online transactions.

Maybe, I worded it wrong, but you accept less liability with a CC:

http://www.incharge.org/military-money/story/debit-card-vs-credit-card

http://www.lifelock.com/education/your-money-and-finances/debit-credit-card-protection/

But if someone steals your actual debit card number (there are a few ways to do this), then they have access to your entire checking account worth of funds. Any place that accepts a CC through Visa or Mastercard (or other, similar company) also accepts those brand of debit cards. They usually don't directly state it though.

If you insist on not using a CC I'd suggest using a Google Wallet card for POS transactions. You can fund it through your debit card (or bank account) and it behaves the same way as a debit card, but the limit on transactions is your wallet balance, not your bank account balance. And you get an email or mobile notification for each transactions if you desire.

One thing you're overlooking. If someone defrauds your debit card, you only lose the money you have in your bank account at the time. If they defraud your credit card, they could max out your entire line of credit. So if the financial institution contests your fraud claim, you could be out thousands of dollars. And they do contest claims, it's not a guarantee that they will gleefully refund your credit. If they have any sort of doubt about the transaction they will do what they can to avoid refunding the money. So you could end up with a major hassle to deal with in order to get reimbursed. With debit cards, it's very easy to limit the amount of money you might possibly lose. In my case, I have most of my money in my savings account, which is not set up for Interac transactions. If I need to make a purchase, I will transfer the funds I require to my chequing account, which is. So in the event that someone did manage to hack my card, I would lose very little, as opposed to possibly losing thousands using a credit card.

While there's always a risk of being defrauded with any sort of electronic transaction, it's much easier to minimize your potential losses, and the hassle of getting them back, when using a debit card.


Again, you're missing the point that online transactions don't accept debit card payments. Not once have I ever seen that option, anywhere. So if someone where to get my debit card number, it would be useless to them without the actual card and my PIN number.

Maybe we are taking about two different things, but I have bought things online with my debit cards before.

Otherwise we will have to agree to disagree, currently for my situation the CC works best.

I'm referring to an Interac debit card. I have never seen an option to pay that way on any commercial site I've looked at, it's either credit card or PayPal. Feel free to prove me wrong by linking to some site that does accept an Interac payment, but I highly doubt you'll find one.

You made it sound like you were talking about all cards when in fact you're referring only to your specific case. I have no idea what Interac is (some local financial institution/system?), but I make online purchases with my debit card all the time.

Interac is the North American system used for debit purchases. It's used in both the US and Canada, and probably Mexico as well. I guess it works differently in Europe. It has no online component, it's only used for local purchases. You need to both swipe a card and provide a PIN number. Simply using the number of the card itself is not enough.

PS: I stand corrected. It seems that Interac is a Canadian system, though it does have some connections with the US. And there are some retailers that will accept it, though very few. And their system works much like Paypal, I wouldn't be giving out my card number directly to the retailer.

http://www.interac.ca/en/

I guess that's why I've never seen any sites that accepts it, it would only apply to some Canadian businesses.

I have debit cards that are provided by MasterCard and Visa, which can be used anywhere that you can make purchases with a credit card, I think this is the source of our confusion.

Great, now I'm intrigued and the theme of this evening is going to be Understanding Debit Cards in Canada. I had so much better things to do... Anyway, I did find out that some banks issue dual Visa-Interac cards. Any chance you could get one? Theoretically. I know you don't need it.

Yes, I was assuming that Interac was a more universal system than it actually is. It's pretty much just used here in Canada though. Every local retailer here uses it, to my knowledge there is no other debit system in place. It's certainly not generally accepted for online purchases, for that I'd either need a credit card or use PayPal. Even if I did have a credit card, I would still use PayPal. It's more secure than passing out my credit card number every time I want to buy something. The only drawback is that it takes a long time for my money to go from my bank account to my PayPal account. Sometimes I've had to wait up to two weeks for the transaction to be completed. But that's fine, I'm in no hurry.


I'm sure I could. There's also the option of getting a pre-paid credit card, or maybe that's the same thing. But it's just more hassle than going through PayPal. With that system I can do it all in the comfort of my home and just wait. With pre-paid I'd have to go out and get a card, or have it charged it up once I had one. Which isn't really that convenient. Of course there are retailers that don't accept PayPal yet, but there's enough of them that I can get whatever I want through it. If a company doesn't accept PayPal, I'll just take my business to someplace that does.

Yeah, I've used multiple debit cards online in exactly the same way I've used credit cards. A few aren't as widely accepted, such as the Electron cards, but nobody uses them for pretty much that reason. It does seem to be the case that credit cards are considered more secure (or at least that they have less liability for the cardholder), I think this topic is the first place I've seen anyone claim otherwise.

Yeah, I've believed that credit cards are safer than debit for the reasons sgt. deacon mentioned.

If you're really worried about a large CC fraud charge, I'd recommend getting a card with a low credit limit, then you'd have the best of both worlds.

I'm satisfied with my current arrangement. While it takes a bit longer going through PayPal, and it limits some of the sites I can buy from, I feel more secure using their service than transmitting card numbers to each retailer. There have just been too many cases lately of retailers getting hacked for me to trust using credit cards online. PayPal has a wide enough acceptance that I can get pretty much get what I want through it, and using it limits my online exposure to hackers. Not to mention that it's unlikely I'll even be able to get a credit card anyway, as I just don't make enough money. I don't need to worry about any sort of credit rating to use debit cards and PayPal, so I don't need to svck up to any financial institution.

Hey, whatever works for you. It's your money, so you should manage it how you see fit.

Someone on my Steam friends was just hacked.

I got a message: "I want to trade this item with you" with link to a .jpg file. It felt fishy. If he wanted to trade, he'd just ask in game.

So I mentioned it to others on the server, (Mostly regulars/friends.) and a bunch of them said, "yup, I just got the same thing".

Glad it wasn't me, and that I didn't fall for it.

careful man, I warned peoplehttp://www.gamesas.com/topic/1510525-warning-users-be-cautious-while-using-steam/

I would change my password, just as a precaution

Well right now I don't owe a dime to anyone, and I like it that way. And my lifestyle is not so extravagant that I need to borrow in order to get the things that I want. If I can't afford to pay for something outright, then I don't really need it anyway. Last winter I managed to save up $2500 for a new computer system, so there's really no reason for me to go into debt for anything. The only thing I could see borrowing money for would be to buy a house, and I have no intention of doing that. At my age, and with housing prices the way they are here, there would be no way I could have it paid off by the time I retired. I don't really have that many years to go now, and I wouldn't want to be stuck having to pay a huge mortgage when I'm only collecting a pension.

And I thank you for that, having read it then, when this came I immediately thought of your post.

I didn't click the link, I just closed it. [x] But I guess it's best to be safe rather than sorry eh? I will change it just in case.

Never had anything hacked. Vaguely recall someone attempting to "reset" my password here on the forum, but without access to my email it obviously didn't do anything.

As for online payments... I'm usually using a mastercard debit card linked to an account I never keep much money on. For anything I'm remotely uncertain about online, my bank offers virtual "e-cards". They're linked to the same account but have their own unique numbers and I can specify how much money they can withdraw and how long they're valid. Works quite well.