That's what I thought. Seems like the hassle to recover money from fraud is about 10x greater when using debit vs. credit.
That is incorrect, if run as a credit transaction (that is, NOT using the PIN) it has the same protections that a visa credit card has. The only difference is potentially the time until funds are replaced, that varies by the issuing bank (my credit union says within 24 hours). And the process of getting money back is essentially the same.
EDIT: From
Visa website: "Visa’s cardholder protection policy requires all financial institutions issuing Visa products to extend provisional credit for losses from unauthorized card use within 5 business days of notification of the loss."
I still don't understand why so many people think debit cards have so much less security. Its been at least a decade or two since VISA has given debit cards the some protections are credit cards.
Using a debit card with a PIN is equivalent to using a check, so there the fraud protection of running it as a credit does not happen then. However you are still never liable for when someone steals money from your bank account, its just more of a hassle to get that figured out. So the solution to that is don't let anyone know your PIN.
I do however look down on people that use checks for payment (unless of course the amount is really high, like >$2000, in which case lots of cards have transaction limits that wouldn't allow that). Because a debit card works just the same as a check, every bank will give them to you free (or if they don't its a crummy bank), and its so much faster and easier. Nothing like waiting in line behind a person who's taking forever to write out a check for $14.23