The House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions will hold hearings on debit cards and the necessity of caps that limit users' liability when the cards are lost or stolen, Chairwoman Marge Roukema said today. Hopefully, all issuers of debit cards will follow suit. In the meantime, however, Congress must closely examine all the issues involved. It is quite conceivable that we would require all debit card issuers to cap liability. The hearings will be held September 17-18 and will also cover debit card disclosure, credit card loan checks and the confidentiality if personal financial information.
Debit cards look like a credit card and are accepted by most merchants the same as a credit card.
Instead of extending credit and sending a monthly bill, however, the issuers take the money directly from the users' checking accounts. There is no such limit with debit cards however, allowing a thief to clean out the owner's checking account.