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Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

reuters.com

111–120 of 374 posts

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#111
post #90
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Majority of EU population. Even in US debit is more popular than credit in 18-25 age bracket.

(Frame of reference: US only) That's a shame, given 18-25 is just the age where a credit card skimmer or online card fraud causing a big fraudulent withdrawal from your checking account, and weeks of waiting to get it back, could be devastating. This has happened to people in my family (likely from gas stations) but we only use credit cards except to pull cash from ATMs, so we only suffer a temporary dip in our avail…

fraudulent withdrawal from your checking account, and weeks of waiting to get it back

I've had this happen to me twice in about 25 years. Neither bank made me wait weeks.

The most recent one (with a giant megabank) issued a provisional credit in under an hour.

There seem to be a lot of people in this thread who have never actually been through this and are just apeing what other people say online.

U.S. banks largely give debit cards the same protections as credit cards for at least the last 15 years.

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#114
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Setting your incredulity aside, I'm curious why you think using a debit card would be so shocking. I effectively don't use a credit card at all: I use a debit card (or an equivalent Apple Pay representation thereof) exclusively. From my perspective, if I want something and I have the money, I'll pay for it. If I want something and I don't have the money, I won't pay for it. I don't often want things outside my budget…

Credit cards are many products rolled into one. Despite the name, many people use "credit cards" simply for rewards and enhanced purchase protections, with only incidental use of the credit facility. In the US market, it is surprising that someone would choose to use a debit card over a credit card (if they have the choice) because they are giving up the rewards and enhanced purchase protections, which are available…

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Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#115
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On top of all the benefits, if for some reason you get hit with fraud or scammed on a debit card, it's a lot harder to get that money back. Credit is an extra layer of protection.

I've heard this, too, and it's a good reason to use a credit card at least for significant purchases. But I'd rather see those same protections extended to debit cards. I wish I understood why they aren't.

The fees that fund those protections don’t exist on the debit card.

It’s also fundamentally different. There are protections, but they depend on you being aware of the activity to avoid impact. Basically, in the event of fraud with a credit card, Chase or AMEX have a problem. With a debit card you have a problem until the resolve it. In the meantime, your payments and checks may not clear or hit overdraft.

As long as you can control your spending, credit cards are a real superpower for consumers.

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#116
post #95
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am young, but not so young as that. I do have a credit card, I just don't use it for anything except the monthly cost of server hosting (to keep it in use). Despite its disuse, I have an "exceptional" credit rating, probably mostly due to the age of the account. So I appreciate the point about credit history, but my habit of preferentially using debit doesn't seem to have been to my detriment on that front. As to f…

The reason is just that it would be more risky, I think. Compare the scenarios: 1. Scammer clones your credit card with a skimmer and pays for $500 of clothes at the mall. You dispute the charges. The funds are actually not given to the store for a bit given that credit transactions take a while to settle. Upon the dispute, the store now needs to prove that you were there and bought those clothes to get their $500, o…

So the protection is that debit cards take longer to pay out to merchants? An increased window to dispute charges doesn't strike me as innovative but more like an arbitrary variable from the CC company.

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#117
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Frame of reference: US only) That's a shame, given 18-25 is just the age where a credit card skimmer or online card fraud causing a big fraudulent withdrawal from your checking account, and weeks of waiting to get it back, could be devastating. This has happened to people in my family (likely from gas stations) but we only use credit cards except to pull cash from ATMs, so we only suffer a temporary dip in our avail…

fraudulent withdrawal from your checking account, and weeks of waiting to get it back I've had this happen to me twice in about 25 years. Neither bank made me wait weeks. The most recent one (with a giant megabank) issued a provisional credit in under an hour. There seem to be a lot of people in this thread who have never actually been through this and are just apeing what other people say online. U.S. banks largely…

They might, and it's good they do, but they're not legally required to in quite the same way that they are with credit cards. If someone pulls $10k out of your BofA account, they're completely within their rights to do basically nothing about it.

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#118
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who don't have credit? I used a debit card at one point, though I don't anymore. But also, they're looking at moving their credit cards to Discover as well, which would make huge waves (both in the credit card/banking world, and for their customers, who would probably find it very annoying).

I suspect the play they're making is that putting millions of new Discover cards out there will be a tipping point, pressuring the remaining merchants who don't take it, as a play to break the Visa/MC duopoly. This could be not that hard to pull off. American Express historically was less accepted because of their high fees, but I don't think Discover has or had that problem.

Maybe I just don't use it enough but I can really only remember one time in the last ~15 years that I've tried to use my Discover card and been told they don't take Discover. I wonder if there's a geographical component, or if certain industries are less likely to take anything other than Visa/MC?

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#119
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who in the world uses debit cards

I use mine at Costco for purchases over $300 (limit for tap). At least here in Canada, they only accept Mastercard, not Visa, and I don't remember the PIN for my Mastercard.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that occasionally forgets a PIN then just uses that as an excuse not to use that particular card for a few years.

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#120
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Frame of reference: US only) That's a shame, given 18-25 is just the age where a credit card skimmer or online card fraud causing a big fraudulent withdrawal from your checking account, and weeks of waiting to get it back, could be devastating. This has happened to people in my family (likely from gas stations) but we only use credit cards except to pull cash from ATMs, so we only suffer a temporary dip in our avail…

fraudulent withdrawal from your checking account, and weeks of waiting to get it back I've had this happen to me twice in about 25 years. Neither bank made me wait weeks. The most recent one (with a giant megabank) issued a provisional credit in under an hour. There seem to be a lot of people in this thread who have never actually been through this and are just apeing what other people say online. U.S. banks largely…

The key with debit cards is the incentive misalignment. With credit, it’s the bank that loses out, not you. With debit, it’s you. Until the consequences are equaled by legislation, there’s no world where they get equal treatment by the bank
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