The Different Fraud Protections for Signatures and PINs
By JENNIFER SARANOW SCHULTZ - January 12, 2010 - The New York Times
Last week’s New York Times article “How Visa, Using Card Fees, Dominates a Market” detailed the behind-the-scenes struggle between banks and retailers to encourage customers to sign when making debit card purchases or to punch in their PIN because of the higher fees that stores pay banks for signatures.
Many readers took issue with the notion in the article that the debate over signing versus typing in a PIN “is a pointless distinction to most consumers, since the price is the same either way.”
Some readers said they felt there actually was a big difference between signatures and PINs for consumers in terms of fees and cost, safety and protection against fraud and purchase records, among other issues.
We’ve boiled this down to four main points: which costs more, which is safer, which offers more protection in the case of fraud and which is easier to track.
Last week, we looked at the cost differences for consumers and on Monday, we looked at which use of a debit card might better protect consumers’ accounts from the risk of fraud. (To be sure, many people think using credit is better than using any kind of debit transaction, but we’ll save that issue for another series.) (more)
Last week’s New York Times article “How Visa, Using Card Fees, Dominates a Market” detailed the behind-the-scenes struggle between banks and retailers to encourage customers to sign when making debit card purchases or to punch in their PIN because of the higher fees that stores pay banks for signatures.
Many readers took issue with the notion in the article that the debate over signing versus typing in a PIN “is a pointless distinction to most consumers, since the price is the same either way.”
Some readers said they felt there actually was a big difference between signatures and PINs for consumers in terms of fees and cost, safety and protection against fraud and purchase records, among other issues.
We’ve boiled this down to four main points: which costs more, which is safer, which offers more protection in the case of fraud and which is easier to track.
Last week, we looked at the cost differences for consumers and on Monday, we looked at which use of a debit card might better protect consumers’ accounts from the risk of fraud. (To be sure, many people think using credit is better than using any kind of debit transaction, but we’ll save that issue for another series.) (more)
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