Despite what your bank may claim, you are not the only person with access to your debit card PIN number, if you have used it at many retail POS terminals. Keep this in mind if you find money missing, and your bank stonewalls you on returning it. Better yet, do not use debit cards at retailers. Block them. Cancel them. Use only credit cards. Get only ATM cards, which require PINs and cannot be used with signatures at retail establishments, and then use them only at your bank's own ATM machines. Never use them at retail POS terminals. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11731365/from/RL.3/ "Criminals have stolen bank account data from a third-party company, several banks have said, and then used the data to steal money from related accounts using counterfeit cards at ATM machines. The central question surrounding the new wave of crime is this: How did the thieves managed to foil the PIN code system designed to fend off such crimes? Investigators are considering the possibility that criminals have stolen PIN codes from a retailer, MSNBC has learned."
I myself have worreid about this sort of thing. I try not to keep all my money in the same account I use that has my Visa mac card.
If you had an account with debit card access, but little cash, and another account with your cash at the same bank, a thief might still debit your low cash acount, ringing up NSF charges, or activating your check guarantee, and the bank could still take the amount due from your second account. Your exposure to theft is still potentially whatever the bank might let slip thru, and it is easy for your bank to just take it out of your other account. You are still only legally protected by the limited debit card protections. Better to not have debit cards, and not use PIN based cards at non-bank ATMs.
