The law has changed. It used to be true that debit cards were not protected against fraudulent charges. Now the law is exactly the same for both credit cards and debit cards. Both offer zero percent liability. Meaning you’ll get a refund of reported/verified fraudulent charges.
But, more havoc can happen with a debit card – since the fraudulent charge, prior to being reported/refunded, reduces your balance. They don’t refund the bounced check charges that can happen if the fraudulent charge causes other, legitimate withdrawals to bounce.
Unfortunately, many banks and credit unions no longer offer ATM cards that DON’T have the visa or mastercard logo on them. I had quite a discussion with the teller at SDCCU about this.
