Will you be shopping online this holiday season? How do you plan to pay for your purchases? Many shoppers don’t think it matters, but credit cards and debit cards have very different levels of buyer protection.
When you pay for online purchases with credit cards, you maintain your rights to dispute charges and refuse making payments while a charge is being investigated. Additionally, by reporting suspicious charges to your card issuer, you can only be held accountable for the first $50 in unauthorized charges made to your card.
Debit cards give you a bit of protection, but with limits. For example, you could be held accountable for the full amount of unauthorized charges made to your debit card unless you report the charges to your bank within 48 hours. Also, the money will be removed from your bank account, leaving you strapped for cash in the middle of the holiday season.
Major online retailers and auction sites like Amazon and Ebay are frequent targets for hackers. If you’d rather not enter your card information directly on a web site, consider using a payment processor like Google Checkout, or a third-party service like Bill Me Later. (Just be sure to pay off your deferred balance on time, or Bill Me Later will tack on some hefty interest charges.)
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