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Comment by jimmy1 | Hacker News Reader

I have similar concerns, although my wife and I have sworn off using credit cards due to candidly our lack of discipline paying the balance off in time. Do you think things like Apple Pay with the virtual cards provide that layer of security?

To any bank out there: I think if you offered a debit card that is backed by "virtual money" rather than the cardholders physical account, you would get my business in a heartbeat. The primary difference between the OP's answer is when your debit card is compromised, you are on the hook until the investigations are completed and still it is not a guarantee your funds are recovered.

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yes, until the protections are equalized for debit cards relative to credit cards, use credit cards and pay them off monthly.

set up autopay to pay the full statement balance each month from your checking account, so you don't have the hassle of dealing with it every month. then have all other monthly bills autopaid with your credit card(s), so you get points for that too. (this is what i do.)

They're usually reserved for people with bad credit, but you can request a secured credit card. The limit is however much you put into an attached savings account. So you have to have the money before you spend it. It's still a credit card, you just have to put cash up front.

Mobile wallets are pretty secure and when you use them to pay you aren't handing over your card number, kind of similar to using chip cards. If you're not going to use a credit card, then a debit card run though Apple or Google Pay is what I'd go for.

if it's an overspending issue you could always try a charge card where you have to pay off the balance every month. the benefit is that they usually have comparable rewards and still act as a firewall for your checking account. if it's more of a "just can't remember to pay on time" issue, then it won't really help.

you could also setup autopay against your checking account. in theory, it shouldn't be any harder to ensure you don't overdraft one time at the end of the month if you are already making sure you don't overdraft for each purchase, but everyone has their own weird hangups, so I'm not judging.

We have zero liability backed by MasterCard, so if there is a charge you don't recognize we will refund you right away and take it up with the merchant instead of leaving you with $X amount less in your bank account.

Also wanted to mentioned, we offer a virtual card for online purchases as a security pre-caution.

That's actually pretty nifty. I think you should add another section to your landing page about security that mentions chips, mobile wallets, and virtual cards for online payments. Those are all factors I'd look at when shopping for a new bank account.

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