More on Identity Theft with WaMu Debit Cards
[disclosure: I have a relative that currently works at WaMu]
I bank at Washington Mutual for several reasons (the relative that works there is not allowed to serve my family to keep everything above board - I also don’t usually go to the branch where the relative works), but one of them is that I can setup as many checking accounts as I need to. The purpose of this feature is this: I can transfer funds into a checking/debit account and use it for online transactions. If something goes wrong and I somehow get scammed I can close down the account and setup another account. The loss is limited to the amount that I might leave in that account. The upside with the account is this: I can transfer money in and out of it as needed and the money is in the account as I need it rather than floating large sums with higher risk in the case of identity theft for that one account.
Other banks offer this sort of service, too, so I recommend you check with your bank and make sure that you are staying ahead of things by 1) always paying with cash/debit so that you know its money that you have to spend rather than spending ‘pretend’ money on a credit card and 2) only exposing yourself to limited risk when you have to use the card online or in public by only keeping limited amounts of cash in the account.
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