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Tag: debit cards

  • Affirm’s Debit Card Is The Anti-Credit Card, Says CEO

    Affirm’s Debit Card Is The Anti-Credit Card, Says CEO

    “It should not be called a credit card for sure in part because it’s sort of the anti-credit card,” says Affirm co-founder and CEO Max Levchin. “I don’t need to be provocative but the idea of credit cards fundamentally is to get you to spend, get into debt, and stay in debt. Literally, every single one of these things is the exact opposite for Affirm’s card.”

    Max Levchin, CEO of Affirm, describes the company’s debit card as the anti-credit card:

    Affirm’s Debit Card Is The Anti-Credit Card

    It should not be called a credit card for sure in part because it’s sort of the anti-credit card. I don’t need to be provocative but the idea of credit cards fundamentally is to get you to spend, get into debt, and stay in debt. You will not know when you’re done paying off any specific purchase. You’re not really sure exactly how much you’re gonna pay. You should actually expect late fees if you miss a payment.

    Literally, every single one of these things is the exact opposite for Affirm’s card. You know exactly what you’re going to pay. You know exactly what the schedule of repayment is and there’ll be no late fees under any circumstances. It’s sort of the exact opposite in many ways. It does serve the same purpose. You get to pay for things right now or over time.

    Card Form Factor Is Extraordinarily Elegant

    I don’t really know how long the card as a form factor will be with us, but I do think it’s extraordinarily elegant. The majority of the offline world certainly in the US still transacts with plastic and chips these days so I think it’s important to meet the customer where they are. I do know that our user base is primarily millennials and Gen Z’s. They love their debit cards they love to transact with them offline.

    The purpose of this product was to bring by functionality that they have really loved online and really offline as well with us but have never had in a card. Particularly, a card that is embedded inside their daily everyday spend tool. The debit card form factor is a metaphor for everyday spend and that’s what we’re trying to get to.

    What I Care About Is The Return Of The Country

    The primary signal that I care about is the return of the country. We’re all kind of holding our breath a little bit to see when vaccines are coming. There are a bunch of reopenings and, knock on wood, everything sort of starts to come back to a little bit more normal. There’s just an incredible amount of opportunity to grow with this product that we have. It’s seen so much adoption in areas like travel, which has been effectively zero growth for the last several quarters because of the pandemic.

    There are lots of interesting new challenges as the country reopens. The dominant thread is that there is that reopening creates a lot more opportunity for this product. We have proven that this product is what our customer wants and needs. This debit card will absolutely meet them where they are as they hopefully come out of their houses and go into restaurants and coffee shops and start traveling and buy tickets.

    Affirm’s Debit Card Is The Anti-Credit Card, Says CEO Max Levchin
  • Never Use Your Debit Card During Security Breach

    Never Use Your Debit Card During Security Breach

    In light of the recent security breach at Target and now Neiman Marcus (NM) the topic has been on a lot of people’s minds. Which card is better, debit or credit, when looking at extra protection needed during this crisis?

    An investigation by F.B.I., The Secret Service, the Justice Department and numerous others found that hackers stole the personal information of at least 70 million customers, not the 40 million first suspected, and that theft included names, mailing addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses.

    Although for years financial gurus have strongly advised against using credit cards frequently because of the expense. This because of the tenancy for most American’s to run those cards up to limits that are exasperating, incurring outrageous interest fees as well. But during one of the most heightened security breach crimes on the books, there is a change in the consensus.

    Even though both cards were affected during the Target and NM breach, and Target has assured its customers that they won’t be held financially responsible for any fraud that occurs on their credit or debit card, the best solution of course, is to use neither.

    But, with a debit card, you are less protected and have fewer rights when it comes to purchases that you didn’t authorize. And, if you do have charges to your account made by thieves, your liability is greater with a debit card as is the time to resolve the theft.

    A debit card requires that you notify your bank within two days of the transaction in question. If you read that little fine print that comes along with your card, you’ll note that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) states, “To be fully protected under the law, you must submit specific information about unauthorized debit and ATM card transactions within a short time period,” stressed Kirk Daniels, an FDIC Supervisory Consumer Affairs Specialist. “That’s also why it’s important to review your bank statements and report a problem as soon as possible.”

    So what if you don’t contact them within that short time period? Your liability fully depends on how quickly you report it to your bank. If you notify them after the required two days, under the law you could lose up to $500, or more. Depending on your bank, they may waive all liability for unauthorized transactions but that is completely up to them.

    Another downfall is that banks have much more time to conduct an investigation after the theft is reported. Some banks could take up to 20 days and in special circumstances up to 45 – 90 days to figure out what happened, but most will refund the stolen funds on a temporary basis. Don’t count on that though, each bank is slightly different.

    “Until the bank provides provisional credit, you could temporarily be out of pocket for the amount in dispute,” said Richard Foley, an FDIC attorney who specializes in consumer issues. “This would not typically happen with a credit card because consumers can withhold payment of the amount in dispute.”

    With a credit card you have much better control. By withholding payment and filing a fraud report, disputing charges can be addressed immediately and not directly affect your bank account.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Target Corp Says PIN Numbers Have Been Stolen

    It’s been a bad end of the year for Target Corp. and it seems that things just got worse.

    Yesterday the company announced that credit and debit card PIN numbers were stolen from customers, along with the actual account information that was breached earlier this month.

    However, store officials say they’re relying on Triple DES encryption backup and feel confident the PIN numbers won’t be able to be used.

    “The PIN information was fully encrypted at the keypad, remained encrypted within our system, and remained encrypted when it was removed from our systems. The most important thing for our guests to know is that their debit card accounts have not been compromised due to the encrypted PIN numbers being taken,” explained Target Corp.

    “The PIN information is encrypted within Target’s system and can only be decrypted when it is received by our external, independent payment processor. What this means is that the key necessary to decrypt that data has never existed within Target’s system and could not have been taken during this incident.”

    Adam Levin, who’s a the co-founder of Identity Theft 911 and Credit.com, says Target can’t assume that it’s dealing with run-of-the-mill-data- criminals, so people should still be concerned.

    “I hope they are right because that information, along with the credit and debit numbers of millions of Target customers has been in the hands of very sophisticated criminals for over four weeks and has been, and is probably still being sold in the black markets,” he said to ABC News.

    And Levin isn’t the only one who’s doubtful of Target’s encryption system failing, as some banks throughout the country have decided to take matters into its own hands by replacing customers’ credit and debit cards altogether.

    “Whenever the public hears the word breach or compromise, the public is concerned, said Senior Vice President of Marketing and Retail Delivery, Maria Smathers. “They’re concerned about their personal information. They’re concerned about their money. They’re concerned about identity theft.”

    Which probably means it’s not a bad idea for you to replace your credit and debit cards as well, since Target Corp. has already proved that the identity thieves just may be a little more sophisticated than the company thinks.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • PayPal Makes It Easier To Pay With Prepaid Gift Cards

    PayPal Makes It Easier To Pay With Prepaid Gift Cards

    PayPal announced that it now supports prepaid gift cards in that consumers can use them anywhere that accepts PayPal.

    This is just in time for the holidays, when many people will be getting these cards as gifts. As PayPal explains, these gifts often come with a burden attached to them.

    “A lot of e-commerce sites can’t or won’t accept it right off the shelf—even if other credit or debit cards of the same card brands are allowed,” says PayPal’s Ed Lee in a blog post. “Many consumers are forced to call the card issuer or go to a special website to register a billing address before trying to pay with the prepaid gift card. It might sound simple, but in PayPal’s recent usability study, it was found that only 1 person out of every 4 was able to register their billing address and complete an online purchase successfully. Thankfully, PayPal has offered a way to resolve the issue. Now, no more of this hassle is required if you use prepaid gift cards through PayPal Checkout.”

    “After our customers voiced this particular pain point again and again, we knew we had to fix it once and for all,” he adds. “After months of research and investigations, we discovered a patent-pending and innovative way to allow the usage of prepaid gift cards so that you can seamlessly apply them to the purchase of products and services anywhere PayPal is accepted – just in time for the holidays!”

    This goes for cards from Visa, American Express, MasterCard, and Discover.

    About a year ago, PayPal began offering its own prepaid cards, but only to those who have credit/debit cards or bank accounts connected to PayPal.

    Image: PayPal

  • Google Wallet Now Lets You Add Credit/Debit Cards By Snapping Pictures

    Google Wallet Now Lets You Add Credit/Debit Cards By Snapping Pictures

    Earlier this week, Google unveiled the Google Wallet Card, a physical card that you can use to pay for things at stores using your Google Wallet account.

    Google has now updated its Google Wallet app for Android, adding another big feature. You can now add credit and debit cards to your account by taking pictures of them.

    “Add a credit/debit card just by taking a picture,” Google says in the What’s New section on Google Wallet’s Google Play page. “Both the number and expiration date will be captured automatically.”

    The Google Wallet Card is free. Another feature of the latest update is a direct line to getting one:

    Google Wallet Card

    Also included in the update are some minor bug fixes and performance improvements.

    [via Android Guys]

    Image: Google Wallet

  • Twitter Account Highlights Stupidity By Retweeting People Who Post Photos Of Their Debit Cards

    Why this has to exist is saddening, and it engenders hopeless feelings for the survival of the human race. But the fact that it does exist is pretty amazing.

    I’m talking about a new Twitter account called @NeedADebitCard, whose sole purpose has been retweeting people who share un-edited photos of their debits cards on the network. That’s right – there are actually enough people doing this to sustain an account of retweets.

    The majority of the photos come from Instagram, which really should surprise nobody. I guess when you’re used every filter available to spruce up that photo of your lunchtime tuna salad sandwich, you just have to move on to posting numbers that lead directly to to money in your bank account. Sounds logical.

    Whether it’s sheer stupidity, some sort of illusion of privacy, or severely overestimating the moral character of people, people are really tweeting their debit cards for the world to see:

    Or this genius who’s just so excited about her brand new Hello Kitty-themed plastic:

    Fortunately, many of the people retweeted by @NeedADebitCard have either wised up or felt enough public humiliation to remove the photos.

    But still, some remain out there for the taking. Come on, human race. It’s really this easy:

    [h/t The Verge]

  • Bank of America Rolls Out Discount Service

    Bank of America Rolls Out Discount Service

    Bank of America is the latest to jump on the trend of offering consumers deals through online discounts.

    Reuters reports that Bank of America rolled out its new Groupon-like service Wednesday that allows consumers to receive deals from retailers based on their prior spending.

    Customers will receive offers through the bank’s Web site and be awarded through cash payments once a month. Customers won’t need to sign up for anything like they would with Groupon.

    The new service, cleverly titled BankAmeriDeals, is looking to restore revenue lost from new regulations that lower the amount of money they receive from debit card swipes. Their previous attempt to make money through monthly debit card fees was met with massive backlash that forced the bank to drop it.

    Bank of America, however, isn’t using its new deals service to make money, but rather “deepen relationships with existing customers and attract new ones,” David Godsman, Bank of America’s online and mobile solutions executive, said.

    Analysts think the service will draw more account activity and card use for the bank. The key is that the rewards are tied to places customers already shop instead of products that they may only be vaguely interested in.

    Bank of America has begun testing the service with its own employees in North Carolina, South Carolina and Nevada. It will expand the program to rest of its employees in February.

    The bank does not have a time frame for when the program will become available to other customers.

    The bank wants to assure customers that they will not share customer’s private data with third parties. The bank will track customer’s spending, but they hope that the appeal of the discounts outweigh any concerns.

    For those wondering how the service works, it’s quite simple. When customers log in to their online accounts, they will see discount offers embedded in their statement. If the customer accepts the offer, it is applied to their account.

    When customers make a purchase, they will pay full price, but the discount will be returned to them in cash form at the beginning of each month.

    Customers can opt in to receive alerts about offers and how much money they have saved. They are also given the option to opt out of the service.

    The bank is not saying which retailers are participating in the new service, but claim that major department stores, fast food chains and local restaurants are included.