Getting your money back and your credit in order can be an unpleasant, lengthy process. Surprisingly, the debit card craze is the reincarnation of a failed idea. Then they practically merged them with their ATM cards. Banking experts now predict two-thirds of American households will have debit cards by the year 2000. Earlier this year, a Consumers Union survey of seven of Texas' largest banks found it common practice to mail unsolicited debit cards to bank customers as a replacement for their ATM cards.
Banks fail to fully disclose the pitfalls associated with the cards.
The debit cards look like ATM cards. This causes widespread confusion whereby consumers often are unsure of what they really have in their wallets. The banks' big push for the cards is no accident. Debit cards are big money makers for banks. Purchases made with debit cards cost less than half the amount it costs to handle a payment via a traditional paper check.