/ 4 July 2010

Is it safe to use your bank card?

During a radio interview recently, the interviewer told me he prefers to use cash because of all the card fraud that is being reported.

But think about it: if you had R500 cash and a pin-protected bank card in your purse or wallet, and it was stolen today, which is safer — your cash or your card?

Clearly cards are a safer way to store your money, but the understandable fear is that if the criminal does crack your PIN he has access to all the money in your account, not just the cash in your purse or wallet.

Yet card fraud accounts for less than 1% of all transactions and it can be prevented with a bit of common sense. Your bank will never ask you for your PIN — and definitely not via SMS or email.

Never allow your card out of your sight at a restaurant, and always cover the key pad with your hand when entering your PIN at a merchant.

The one area, however, that is of concern is that with the advent of the PIN-protected credit card, banks are shifting the risk on to the client. If your card is used with your PIN, the onus is on you to prove you did not compromise the information.

The best protection against this is to sign up for your bank’s notification programme, which sends you an SMS each time you transact. The sooner you pick up the fraudulent activity the easier it will be to resolve it with the bank.

At the end of the day, cards are the cheaper way to bank, especially credit cards where there are no transactional charges for using it at a merchant. So be vigilant and take precautions, but don’t switch to cash just yet.

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