Y'know what the world needs?

[Newc]

A debit-card issuer that you can sign up for online and have your own account info assigned to it. I've been waiting almost 3 months now for a replacement debit card from my bank, when I could've had it in a week or 2 if I could simply go to Visa.com, put in my bank account info, and get a Visa Check Card for that account in the mail.

[Grandturk]

Time to get a new bank. What do you have like the Ma & Pa Kettle Bank of Weesiana?

[Jason1212]

Blame this on criminals and terrorists. I got a letter from BBVA saying that my account information had (card specifically) had been compromised. It took them 2 months to get a new card and that was only after we called and told them we hadn’t gotten new ones. I have changed banks.

[Spivonious]

Yeah I'd change banks too. When my bank had an information leak, they had a new card out to me in less than two weeks. And they're not a big national bank; they have about 50-60 branches total.

[VitaminG]

I was going to say "Love, sweet love". But nevermind...

[Grandturk]

BoA has gotten me replacement cards within 3-5 business days on several occassions. Amex has done me next day.

[RacerX]

"2 MORE HANDS AND AN EXTRA SET OF BALLS?"

[Rich#6]

I had my Discover card info stolen a few weeks ago, not only did THEY catch it really fash they had a new card out to me with in a week.

[StukaJU87]

More cowbell?

[Trussrod]

more cowbell?

lol

[Newc]

Ok ok, aside from more balls and hands, more cowbell, and all that other stuff

Still, I think it would be nice to have options beyond what most financial institutions offer. The Visa CheckCard looks good, but it's basically a pay-as-you-go cel phone plan - when it gets low, refill it. The good part of that is once it's empty, or lost/stolen, nothing else can come from it.
However, if it was stolen, you simply cancel it and order a new one and some asshat gets stuck with an empty useless card.

[VitaminG]

you may have identified a niche market. Start your own bank and get rich filling that hole!!

[Grandturk]

The Visa CheckCard looks good, but it's basically a pay-as-you-go cel phone plan - when it gets low, refill it.

I see ads for all sorts of "refillable" ATM cards. Russell Simmons apparantly has his own brand.

Edit: - obviously not much longer until Gene follows suit... or files suit.

[lerxstcat]

I had to get my debit card replaced because someone somehow fgot my info and had bought something with the info. The bank said 6 weeks possibly to get my new card, but it arrived within a week. I would shop for a new bank, unless your town is so small that it's the only bank you have. 3 months is unacceptabe.

This sounds like the time you tried to get a new trem for your Ibanez EX!

[Vass]

Look, I hate to say it but if you're using a debit card for purchases you're just asking for trouble. If your card gets skimmed or whatever, they're hitting YOUR bank account, not your credit card.

Will it get straightened out? I'm sure. But the bank is not going to loan you money to live off until you do, and basically YOU are the one who is out the cash NOT them. So you are negotiating from a position of real weakness.

I used to use my debit card constantly until I wised up and just got an AMEX. I never carry a balance. I use it like a debit card. At the end of the month, zip, I pay off the entire balance. But it's like a firewall between my bank account and the world.

Same goes for using paypal. They CONSTANTLY default to my bank account for payments instead of my Amex. Why? Because they don't want to fight Amex if something goes wrong, because they'll lose. They want to fight me, because they'll win. I'm the one begging to get my money back. If it's a credit card, let Amex & Paypal fight it out.

We had a situation where a place we went to a few times did indeed have a waiter that was skimming debit cards. We got lucky & didn't get whacked, but after that...never again. 3 months for the bank to straighten it out? Great, in that period you miss car payments, mortgage payments, whatever, and your life is a wreck.

My wife got a call from Amex once- "Did you order $2500 worth of medical supplies and ship them to the Ukraine? No, we didn't think you did. Don't worry about it." Never heard about it again. Try that with your bank account.

Oh, and waiting this long for a new debit card is absurd. I'd start to wonder if it got lost or lifted out of your mailbox.



/rant off.