Young adults and high earners are both avoiding debit cards. Debit cards were invented in order to allow bank account holders to easily spend their funds instead of having to write a check for each transaction. So why are debit card holders avoiding debit cards altogether? It all goes back to security. Most states do not have nearly as many protections for debit cards as they do for credit cards. While credit cards have a host of protections that stop hackers and limit liability, debit cards are often bare when it comes to security features.
Keeping Finances Protected
With high profile hacks and breaches such as those affecting Target and Sony in the news over the past several years, consumers are weary. They want to keep their personal data and their financial data protected. They are much less willing to use financial products that don’t have the protections that they crave.
Debit Cards Aren’t As Safe As Credit Cards
When a debit card is hacked or the card’s information is stolen, consumers have less time to report the incident before they are liable for the full amount of the transaction. It is difficult to be constantly aware of any of your cards’ transactions on a daily basis—which is why many consumers are instead choosing the greater consumer protections associated with credit cards instead. Many merchants are using High Risk Merchant Account from credit card processors such as eMerchantBroker.com for their transactions I order to keep themselves protected from potential fraud.
More Credit Cards Use EMV Technology
In order to curb fraud, many credit card companies have switched over to EMV cards. These cards, also known as chip and pin cards, encrypt each transaction in a chip that is much more secure than the strips found on traditional credit and debit cards. Debit cards, for the most part, have not made the shift over to EMV cards, while credit card companies have made the shift. This gives credit card holders an even greater measure of protection over debit card holders.