Should You Think Twice About Using Your Credit or Debit Cards?

I am usually one of those people that never has any cash on them.  It has been years since I regularly carried cash around and I usually rely completely on my debit card.  Lately I have to admit I am starting to rethink this practice.   I was one of the people caught up in the Target malware problem. I spent maybe $20 one afternoon at Target, and ended up having to cancel my debit card and get a new card with a new number. This was a lot more of a hassle than it sounds like. I had to remember that all of my accounts that use that card, needed to be updated with the new card. I took 10 days to get the new card. Once it came, I changed it on itunes, and for my prescriptions and a few other places.  I didn't think about it, and ordered some things on Amazon, but they never came, when I looked at my account to see why, it said my card was declined and my order cancelled. I forgot to update the card on Amazon. That was annoying.

I thought I have everything updated, and then I received a letter from Sunpass and before I opened it I realized I never updated my Sunpass toll account.  I assumed it would be a ticket for going through tolls the previous weekend, and was relieved to see they just charged the regular price of the tolls, just putting my account in negative status, but no fine or ticket, thankfully. I fixed it right away.

Then when the news came out about Home Depot situation, I was relieved at first, I had not purchased anything at Home Depot in a long time, but found out my husband had purchased a saw blade for less than $10, in the time frame they mentioned. So now he had to get a new debit card.  Luckily his is not the one we use on our various accounts, but it was still a hassle. He had to be without a debit card for about 10 days, and we were advised to check our bank account every day for fraudulent charges. 

I understand that any fraudulent charges will not be our responsibility, but there is still a major amount of hassle that goes along with all of it, even if no fraudulent charges are made.

So to answer my own question, I am starting to think twice about using my debit card, especially on those small items.   I think I would much rather have to be inconvenienced by stopping at the ATM, then by having to change the card number on multiple accounts.  I used to have more faith in the security of these large corporations, but I don’t anymore, it becoming too common to see these stories.