Purchase protection with debit card?

Lurker · 7 July 2005 at 9:03PM

Apologies if this isn't the right place to post, but....

I am intending to make an approx £350 purchase to a shop in the USA.
They accept credit cards, cheques and paypal but have no online payment system.

I don't have a Paypal account or credit card, but do have a Delta/visa debit card thingie with my current account.

Could anyone advise about the safest way to protect my prospective purchase? From looking at paypal, I can set up a basic account and transfer the funds for free, but if I don't receive the goods I'm not protected by them (USA customers only, thanks a lot.)
http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/ua/policy_guarantee-outside

They've also got something called Paypal buyer protection, but that only applies to Ebay purchases, which this isn't.

I know that I can use my debit card like a credit card online and make purchases, but I don't know whether I get the purchase protection that credit cards give. The only 'virtual' purchases I've made previously have been with well known retailers such as Amazon and trainline etc. Also, in this instance I'm not doing an online payment but will be telling the guy in the shop my card details over the phone, unless I can find a more secure way of doing it. I've done all I can think of to minimise the risk and think the shop is a genuine one (been around since 1979, has a real address and phone number, been mentioned in the local newspaper (in a good way, space filling rather than as a fraud expose!) etc.
Does anyone have any advice? (I've been turned down for a credit card recently so until I find out why that's not an option at the moment).

Any help appreciated.

djohn2002uk · 7 July 2005 at 11:30PM

No purchase protection with a debit card except maybe in the case of fraud.

derrick · 8 July 2005 at 2:42PM

djohn2002uk wrote:

No purchase protection with a debit card except maybe in the case of fraud.

Not quite true, if your debit card has the Visa logo then you have the same protection under the Visa umbrella,,SEE HERE

pin · 8 July 2005 at 2:52PM

derrick wrote:

Not quite true, if your debit card has the Visa logo then you have the same protection under the Visa umbrella,,SEE HERE

Will this apply to foreign purchases?

To the OP, best bet is to contact your bank (i.e. the bank / building soc that issued you with the debit card) and ask them to see if you are protected for a foreign purchase with your debit card.

derrick · 8 July 2005 at 2:56PM

pin wrote:

Will this apply to foreign purchases?

To the OP, best bet is to contact your bank (i.e. the bank / building soc that issued you with the debit card) and ask them to see if you are protected for a foreign purchase with your debit card.

It will be the same as a Visa CC and that seems a hit and miss affair at the moment, although I think the EU is making it mandatory accross the EU

pin · 8 July 2005 at 3:12PM

derrick wrote:

It will be the same as a Visa CC and that seems a hit and miss affair at the moment, although I think the EU is making it mandatory accross the EU

Cheers. Do you have any more informaiton on the last bit you said, the bit about the EU trying to make protection mandatory?

derrick · 8 July 2005 at 3:16PM

pin wrote:

Cheers. Do you have any more informaiton on the last bit you said, the bit about the EU trying to make protection mandatory?

No afraid not, but it will be out there somewhere

djohn2002uk · 9 July 2005 at 12:45PM

derrick wrote:

Not quite true, if your debit card has the Visa logo then you have the same protection under the Visa umbrella,,SEE HERE

That is good to know but I was thinking more along the lines of "Credit Cards" and the issuers being "Jointly and Severally"(think that's the term) responsible. As quoted below.

The Consumer Credit Act gives consumers a wide range of rights against companies who provide credit, for example, the right to look at any credit file; a 'cooling off period' of 5 days when people can cancel any credit agreement signed at home; the right to pay off credit early; limited liability or sometimes no liability when a credit card is stolen or lost. The Act also lays down conditions and procedures which credit companies have to follow when they advertise or sell credit. These are backed up by criminal sanctions.

Section 75 of the Act gives people the right to their money back from credit card companies if they use their card to buy something which turns out to be faulty. It only applies to goods worth more than £100 and less than £30,000, and it does not apply to debit, charge cards, bank loans or certain shop cards.

But what it does mean is that if you use a credit card to purchase something that breaches laws like the Sale of Goods Acts, you can get your money back from the credit company instead of from the trader. This can be extremely useful if the trader has gone out of business.

One of the main problems with the Act is that it does not apply to British credit cards used or to transactions over the internet with non-UK registered sites.

Most credit card companies, while disputing liability, will pay out if someone loses money because of fraud or unauthorised use. Some will pay out if foreign goods bought on credit turn out to be faulty. But they insist that the consumer must try and sort the matter out with the trader first.

The red paragraphs are highlighted by me.

derrick · 9 July 2005 at 2:07PM

Yes but as I said, if the debit card has a Visa logo then Visa's T&C will bring it under that umbrella and therefore will cover it as if it was a CC

djohn2002uk · 9 July 2005 at 3:02PM

Section 75 of the Act gives people the right to their money back from credit card companies if they use their card to buy something which turns out to be faulty. It only applies to goods worth more than £100 and less than £30,000, and it does not apply to debit, charge cards, bank loans or certain shop cards.

Well, seems to me someones wrong.
I certainly wouldn't risk a Debit Card for purchases online, that's precisely the reason I got a Credit Card.

derrick · 9 July 2005 at 3:24PM

You are right re the Consumer Credit Act, that is legislation, however Visa give the same rights under their T&C's to the debit cards with their logo, this is not legislation, just Visa giving (voluntarily) extra rights.

Purchase protection with debit card?

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