Debit cards

[Nancy2627]

I called my bank and notified them that I was going to use my

debit card for my shipboard account. They approved it. I just

want to make sure it will be accepted on the ship. Although if

I had to I could use my credit card and just pay it off when I

get home.

 

Does anyone know about this?

Sincerely, Nancy

[delco]

I called my bank and notified them that I was going to use my

debit card for my shipboard account. They approved it. I just

want to make sure it will be accepted on the ship. Although if

I had to I could use my credit card and just pay it off when I

get home.

 

Does anyone know about this?

Sincerely, Nancy

There will be a hold put onto your debit card which ties up available funds. You might be better off putting it on your credit card. Seems funny that the bank had to approve the way you want to spend your money. The limits put on debit cards are really to protect the banks, not the cardholder.

 

See you on The Pearl

 

Rick

[terrymtex01]

There will be a hold put onto your debit card which ties up available funds. You might be better off putting it on your credit card. Seems funny that the bank had to approve the way you want to spend your money. The limits put on debit cards are really to protect the banks, not the cardholder.

 

See you on The Pearl

 

Rick

 

Not to speak for the OP, but what the OP probably was doing was two fold. 1. Telling them they will be traveling so that the bank doesn't suspend the card for charges outside of the US. and 2. I know with our bank debit cards there is a daily charge limit. I know it is around $2,500.00 or maybe $1,500.00, but your bank can raise that if you let them know. There are actually several reasons to let banks and your credit card company know you are about to go on a trip. We were using our debit card to get cash on a ship one time and the bank put a hold on our card until we called them. You just never know.

 

To the OP. Personally I do not like to give anyone that much direct access to our financial accounts. To each his own and I certainly think you should do what you are comfortable with, but I would always use a credit card and then pay it off when you get home. Also, I have read on the boards here that when you use a debit card instead of a credit card they "hold" or "pre-approve" a much larger amount. I don't know why, no one has ever been able to explain to me why where I understood it, but that is just what I have read on here many times. Doesn't make sense to me, but, if it is true I am sure they have their reasons.

[martinchem]

Sounds good to me.

[delco]

Not to speak for the OP, but what the OP probably was doing was two fold. 1. Telling them they will be traveling so that the bank doesn't suspend the card for charges outside of the US. and 2. I know with our bank debit cards there is a daily charge limit. I know it is around $2,500.00 or maybe $1,500.00, but your bank can raise that if you let them know. There are actually several reasons to let banks and your credit card company know you are about to go on a trip. We were using our debit card to get cash on a ship one time and the bank put a hold on our card until we called them. You just never know.

 

To the OP. Personally I do not like to give anyone that much direct access to our financial accounts. To each his own and I certainly think you should do what you are comfortable with, but I would always use a credit card and then pay it off when you get home. Also, I have read on the boards here that when you use a debit card instead of a credit card they "hold" or "pre-approve" a much larger amount. I don't know why, no one has ever been able to explain to me why where I understood it, but that is just what I have read on here many times. Doesn't make sense to me, but, if it is true I am sure they have their reasons.

I always let my bank that I will be traveling so there are no problems if their fraud department thinks there might be fraudulent activity, whether it is my credit card or debit card. The daily charge limit protects the bank, not the card holder. It is also a good idea to give your cell number to the bank as your contact number, so they can reach you while traveling, if they think there is a problem.

[garycarla]

As the second poster mentioned, I do not like giving anybody that much access to my personal checking account. A credit card works much better because it can not impact my mortgage, my electric bill, my daycare, etc. etc.

 

I use the credit card and pay it off as soon as I get home.

 

And yes, the cruise ship will take your debit card. Of course, if somebody hacks into your debit card between leaving the house and getting on the cruise ship, you are out of luck.

[rudeman]

If you plan on paying it right off, why not put it on a credit card that doubles your points from traveling? I did that on my recent trip and, yes, onboard charges were counted as double points because it is to a cruise line. Sweet!

[ugen512]

There will be a hold put onto your debit card which ties up available funds. You might be better off putting it on your credit card. Seems funny that the bank had to approve the way you want to spend your money. The limits put on debit cards are really to protect the banks, not the cardholder.

 

See you on The Pearl

 

Rick

 

 

As I have stated before it depends on your bank. The cruise line places an authorization on your card which is different then a hold. Some banks will hold funds with an auth but some do not..BOA for example which I have does not hold any funds. i have used it for my last few cruises and never saw a hold only the final payemnt debited a few days after the cruise.

 

The best way to check is if you use your debit card for gas, if the $1 or $2 auth shows immediately on your account, your bank will hold the funds.

[knjfaith]

not being familiar w/ debit cards...do u get charged $1/$2 auth every time u fill up at the gas station?

[ugen512]

not being familiar w/ debit cards...do u get charged $1/$2 auth every time u fill up at the gas station?

 

They will auth $1-2 just to verify the card is good. Some stations when gas prices were $4 gallon were raising this as people were getting $100 and then the charge bounced so to speak.

 

For example if I fill my tank today i see nothing until the full amount posts to my account in 2-3 business days.

[knjfaith]

how does raising the auth fee to $100 help the cause...i'm not good at math sorrie;)

[geneticfreak]

The actual final bill was charged a couple days after the cruise, but each individual charge to our onboard account were still showing as holds. The holds on our debit card just started going away yesterday from our Dec. 6 cruise on the Gem.

[garycarla]

how does raising the auth fee to $100 help the cause...i'm not good at math sorrie;)

 

They want to make sure your purchase will be covered BEFORE you start pumping.

 

Meanwhile, someday somebody will tell me what the value in using debit cards is. I just heard from another friend that had their debit card hacked. All kinds of bills bounced and bank had pretty much frozen their account until it gets fixed.

 

With a credit card, you just stop using it and use another one.

[ugen512]

how does raising the auth fee to $100 help the cause...i'm not good at math sorrie;)

 

If they can't authorize $100 on your card, it gets declined. The gas stations i believe were uping it to $20-25.

 

Kind of getting off subject but sine my wife was in banking for 15 years....

[ugen512]

They want to make sure your purchase will be covered BEFORE you start pumping.

 

Meanwhile, someday somebody will tell me what the value in using debit cards is. I just heard from another friend that had their debit card hacked. All kinds of bills bounced and bank had pretty much frozen their account until it gets fixed.

 

With a credit card, you just stop using it and use another one.

 

There are just as many risks with CC. With a debit card you are spending money you have..a credit card is a short or in many cases a long term loan with interest. I believe cc are useful but not a necessity.

[garycarla]

There are just as many risks with CC. With a debit card you are spending money you have..a credit card is a short or in many cases a long term loan with interest. I believe cc are useful but not a necessity.

 

With my credit card, fraud is not an issue. It will not impact my checking account at all, and everything tied to it.

 

I never pay interest on my credit card. It is a loan only if you do not pay. If you treat your credit card like the debit card, there is never any interest.

 

My credit card allows me access to a loan if I need it when stranded overseas or medical emergency. A Debit card is limited to what is in my checking account.

[HurricaneSally]

I don't have any credit cards and have used my Visa Check Card on 17 cruises without a problem. No holds or fraudulent purchases. However, I do check my balance by computer daily to make sure it is accurate.

 

Please don't make people think they have to go out and get a credit card to pay their seapass account, because it's not true.

 

Just a note, I do not use my check card in foreign ports, for that I take cash.

[Eeyoregon]

Meanwhile, someday somebody will tell me what the value in using debit cards is.

 

With a credit card, you just stop using it and use another one.

 

That's just peachy unless you don't have a credit card.

 

I use my debit card every single day. It has the VISA logo so it's accepted just like credit cards are. I have only written a handful of checks in the past few years. I can't imagine life without my debit card!

 

The value of a debit card is that you can't go thousands of dollars into debt from using it and you EARN money by using it rather than paying interest like on credit cards.

[garycarla]

In response to the last two posters.

 

I agree - you do NOT need to go get a credit card for your onboard account. I did not mean to imply you must have one.

 

And to the poster that never writes checks, great.

 

I was only referring to situations that do come up when a debit card can cause problems with your checking account. I run a small business and every few months I run into a customer that has had their checking account trashed because of debit card problem. I do not hear the same problems with a credit card. When that gets hacked, it does not impact your mortgage payment, etc.etc.

 

From time to time folks come here posting problems they have had with their debit card and charges from the cruiseline. Not every week, but it does come up. Very rarely are there credit card issues.

 

Not everyone pays interest on a credit card nor do I spend money that I do not have. And I earn lots of points on my credit cards.

 

Cash will work great. Debit cards work great for most people.

[serene56]

I dont have a credit card either- We use cash.

 

In the begining of life as cruisers we did use a debit card. Calling the bank to verify that you will be on vacation is great- Better yet is to make sure there is NO daily limit on the debit card.

 

The cruiselines put all the charges in on the last day=- IF you have a daily limit you could go over which in turn will freeze your ready cash for a few days.

[drm93]

Hi All,

I had a post going a while back on this very subject.

Ugen512,my gas purchases work the same way,if I fill up,it doesn't show up at all for a couple days. Now,I understand what everyone is saying but when you say that there are no holds on your debit card during your cruise,then they show up at the end of the cruise...what about the "service charge" fees...wouldn't they show up immediately as a hold on your debit card?

[islandgirlejfan]

I just had this happen and am still going through the nightmare. I was robbed at gunpoint years ago and am scared to carry too much cash since that happened to me. You truly never get over the feeling of feeling nervous, but a lot of it is just the aftermath of what you have to deal with, especially when all your ID is taken. We have credit cards, but we still prefer to pay cash....it's not the way everyone may do it, but it is the way we do it. We had never had a problem ever. I personally had used my debit function so much that when they began the concept of testing a *credit feature* on the debit card, I was one of the people our bank selected to see how it would go. My husband never got one until the bank decided they were going to do all cards with a *credit* feature.

 

Husband and I are (will be *were*) customers of our bank since 1983. We have moved overseas and used it with no problems, came home and never an issue...not until the 22nd of December of this year. I was at work and had made a few purchases over the weekend and checked our account. I thought it was a little weird that our account had been debited for what I thought was our mortgage check that I had put in over the weekend. Even with Check 21 in place, I wasn't so sure it would go in that fast....that is when I should have called the bank. I went back in about a half hour later to check and I did have two other outstanding transactions, but they weren't adding up. I called the bank. While I was waiting for the customer service once I got done the *all CSR's are busy, please continue to hold* bullcrap, I checked again and this time our account was way down....and of course I was frantic! Finally, I get a CSR who tells me my husband must be in Britain....I tell her he is at work and she tells me he needs to phone the bank and in the meantime, they shut down the card. My husband does travel for his job, but he always uses the company card and takes cash for conversion to the money he needs in whatever country he is in....he NEVER uses our debit card on trips and usually only takes the cash he needs and only in small amounts. We had to appear together at the bank and they physically cut up his card there and faxed the information on Monday and of course the fraud department didn't get it until Wednesday!:eek::rolleyes:

 

The bank has seven to ten business to clear up any issues with your card. (mind you, this happened during a time where the bank will be closed two days during that period) Even though I had made a transfer of money from another account trying to avoid any issues during their *investigation period*, the charges the person made to my husband's card caused my account rack up ten overdraft charges because the money didn't get there in time. While we will get all the fees back, the bank can float your money for a number of days. After four conversations with different people, I finally found someone with the bank who understood we were the victims and got at least the overdraft charges put back in the account so they weren't getting more of our money when we were paid to hold on to!

 

There were and should have been obvious red flags to the bank when this card was used. I was told when hubby and I went to New Zealand over a year ago that had I not called the bank to let them know we would be there (we wanted to be able to get cash if we *needed* to) our cards would be unusable overseas. They also told us anytime we went somewhere we needed to inform the bank where we were going and what length of time. So here our card number is in Britain and it doesn't throw up a red flag (?).....not to mention that my husband *rarely* uses his card and his was the number taken....red flag number two. Then there are all these rapidly happening charges happening on a card that isn't used very often....flag three. Because of these flags, we are ending our relationship with the bank, not to mention the way we were treated with all of this. They were recently sold anyway, so it's just as well.

 

We were feeling pretty bad with over roughly 2K still being floated at the bank (still is in fact) until on Christmas Eve we are again at the bank and there was a lady there who was scammed for 6K! In retrospect, I think I was calm compared to this poor girl. They have 45 days to work on hers! There are a lot of different rules with debit/credit cards and I just really want to say to check with your particular bank to find out what applies to your card...the reporting time varies and if you are in another country, it could be a big issue if you aren't watching your account....take it from someone who knows, please find out before it ever happens to you. The other thing I found out is that gas stations are one of the most common places for someone to capture your number so that a cloned card can be created. Go into the station to use your card. There is NO safe way honestly...you can be bilked even with a credit card so make sure you watch your accounts. Cash however will never be recovered.

 

Electronic theft feels just as *dirty* as it did when I was robbed at gunpoint....probably even more so because I don't know the face that did it. I pray no one here has to ever know the issues. There are going to be lots of things to deal with in the months ahead...you may not realize how electronic your life has become. I didn't mean to make this so long, but I would rather see people informed....we have really suffered stress wise the past two weeks.

[NWSW]

We've had our # stolen 3 times as well. Never the card, just the number. Our bank treated it exactly like a credit card and cancelled the card, immediately redeposited the $1000 that was stolen, and we never had a delay in our funds for the checking account. It may have helped in our case that they called me and said "Well, since you are answering in TN you evidently are not in Huntington Beach CA at Best Buy!" and immediately stopped the next transaction the user tried to put through.

 

The next two times I had "trolling" charges of very small amounts show up in my online banking (I check it daily). I called the bank and they told me that theives will "troll" for good credit card/debit card numbers and once they get a hit they will try to use it for higher amounts. Not sure on the specifics, but that's what we were told.

[delco]

I just had this happen and am still going through the nightmare. I was robbed at gunpoint years ago and am scared to carry too much cash since that happened to me. You truly never get over the feeling of feeling nervous, but a lot of it is just the aftermath of what you have to deal with, especially when all your ID is taken. We have credit cards, but we still prefer to pay cash....it's not the way everyone may do it, but it is the way we do it. We had never had a problem ever. I personally had used my debit function so much that when they began the concept of testing a *credit feature* on the debit card, I was one of the people our bank selected to see how it would go. My husband never got one until the bank decided they were going to do all cards with a *credit* feature.

 

Husband and I are (will be *were*) customers of our bank since 1983. We have moved overseas and used it with no problems, came home and never an issue...not until the 22nd of December of this year. I was at work and had made a few purchases over the weekend and checked our account. I thought it was a little weird that our account had been debited for what I thought was our mortgage check that I had put in over the weekend. Even with Check 21 in place, I wasn't so sure it would go in that fast....that is when I should have called the bank. I went back in about a half hour later to check and I did have two other outstanding transactions, but they weren't adding up. I called the bank. While I was waiting for the customer service once I got done the *all CSR's are busy, please continue to hold* bullcrap, I checked again and this time our account was way down....and of course I was frantic! Finally, I get a CSR who tells me my husband must be in Britain....I tell her he is at work and she tells me he needs to phone the bank and in the meantime, they shut down the card. My husband does travel for his job, but he always uses the company card and takes cash for conversion to the money he needs in whatever country he is in....he NEVER uses our debit card on trips and usually only takes the cash he needs and only in small amounts. We had to appear together at the bank and they physically cut up his card there and faxed the information on Monday and of course the fraud department didn't get it until Wednesday!:eek::rolleyes:

 

The bank has seven to ten business to clear up any issues with your card. (mind you, this happened during a time where the bank will be closed two days during that period) Even though I had made a transfer of money from another account trying to avoid any issues during their *investigation period*, the charges the person made to my husband's card caused my account rack up ten overdraft charges because the money didn't get there in time. While we will get all the fees back, the bank can float your money for a number of days. After four conversations with different people, I finally found someone with the bank who understood we were the victims and got at least the overdraft charges put back in the account so they weren't getting more of our money when we were paid to hold on to!

 

There were and should have been obvious red flags to the bank when this card was used. I was told when hubby and I went to New Zealand over a year ago that had I not called the bank to let them know we would be there (we wanted to be able to get cash if we *needed* to) our cards would be unusable overseas. They also told us anytime we went somewhere we needed to inform the bank where we were going and what length of time. So here our card number is in Britain and it doesn't throw up a red flag (?).....not to mention that my husband *rarely* uses his card and his was the number taken....red flag number two. Then there are all these rapidly happening charges happening on a card that isn't used very often....flag three. Because of these flags, we are ending our relationship with the bank, not to mention the way we were treated with all of this. They were recently sold anyway, so it's just as well.

 

We were feeling pretty bad with over roughly 2K still being floated at the bank (still is in fact) until on Christmas Eve we are again at the bank and there was a lady there who was scammed for 6K! In retrospect, I think I was calm compared to this poor girl. They have 45 days to work on hers! There are a lot of different rules with debit/credit cards and I just really want to say to check with your particular bank to find out what applies to your card...the reporting time varies and if you are in another country, it could be a big issue if you aren't watching your account....take it from someone who knows, please find out before it ever happens to you. The other thing I found out is that gas stations are one of the most common places for someone to capture your number so that a cloned card can be created. Go into the station to use your card. There is NO safe way honestly...you can be bilked even with a credit card so make sure you watch your accounts. Cash however will never be recovered.

 

Electronic theft feels just as *dirty* as it did when I was robbed at gunpoint....probably even more so because I don't know the face that did it. I pray no one here has to ever know the issues. There are going to be lots of things to deal with in the months ahead...you may not realize how electronic your life has become. I didn't mean to make this so long, but I would rather see people informed....we have really suffered stress wise the past two weeks.

This is right off of Visa website "

Count on quick resolution and provisional credit if your card is lost or stolen. 1

 

If your account is compromised, Visa is committed to setting things right without further aggravation or inconvenience to you. 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. "

[islandgirlejfan]

This is right off of Visa website "

Count on quick resolution and provisional credit if your card is lost or stolen. 1

 

If your account is compromised, Visa is committed to setting things right without further aggravation or inconvenience to you. 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. "

 

Ours was a MasterCard and if you read their site there are MANY astrerisk and lots of small print with exclusions. I read their site when we were beginning this journey. Here is another little thing I just found right from the MasterCard debit site that I know I read.

"Zero Liability

Pay only for purchases which you have authorized on your MasterCard card. So long as your account is in good standing, you have exercised reasonable care in safeguarding your card, and you have not reported two or more unauthorized events in the past twelve months. Unauthorized purchases are not your responsibility. Exceptions apply.*

 

It is going to depend on your institution....so it really isn't a bad idea to give them a little call to see what the rules would be on your particular card, BEFORE you have a problem. Five business days turns to seven days total if your card number is compromised on any day but early on Monday...ours happened at holiday time which made for more aggravation. Our main savings isn't necessarily that instantaneous for getting funds as we don't use the traditional brick and mortar bank for that...we had some funds at the credit union we are moving to, but I had other things I wanted to do for Christmas...they didn't happen, sadly.