> Under the law, credit card issuers actually have more time to deliberate before making you whole, not less.
Could be but in my personal experience, it has been the exact opposite. That said, I don't use banks. I work with credit unions exclusively. Maybe they have very different rules when it comes to handling debit card fraud.
The only time I have needed a debit card are when a place doesn't accept credit or charges a heavy markup for credit. Someone here mentioned Robinhood virtual credit card - I need to look into it, but I use a similar service and I keep my debit card locked only to unlock it for the exact window I am actually using it.
> rented cars, all that stuff. There's really been no point I can think of where I felt like having a revolving credit card would have made any of it more manageable.
I'm unaware when you last rented a car but when I rented a car last month, the company put a $500 hold on my credit card. That credit card hold went away after I returned the car in good condition a week later. I imagine, if I had used a debit card, that $500 hold would have made $500 disappear from my bank balance during that time. When my nephew rented a car, they put a $2000 hold on his credit card, I'm assuming because he's younger than 21. He certainly doesn't have $2000 to spare in his bank account.
The same credit card got me a free upgrade on the rental car, primary insurance protection during the rental period (I didn't have to buy the $40/day rental insurance) and got me 5% cashback on the full rental amount essentially undoing state taxes. The estimated cash value of these would have been ~$500 for the week. Using the debit card from my credit union would have got me exactly $0 (plus a reduced balance the whole time).
OTOH, a credit union shipped me a chipped debit card preactivated. The debit card shipped via regular USPS mail and was stolen along the way. I always keep $400 in my checking account, so the theif emptied my card at Target and 7/11. Within hours of receiving text about the charges, I called my credit union, informed them of the detail. They sent me a binder full of documents to sign. The whole time the money wasn't refunded. They took a month to review evidence and refunded me $50 (of the $400) and told me I would have to provide additional evidence that needed wet signatures, notarizied to receive the rest ($350). Every notarizied page in my jurisdiction costs $150.
> EFTA Reg E gives banks 10 days to make you whole
Interesting - any idea if this applies to credit unions too (because then you just got $350 back into my pocket!)
> I presumably still somehow owe them $40, and it wrecked my credit score.
> People say it will impact your ability to get a mortgage or a lease, but: not my experience!
Are these mortgages or a leases after you became wealthy or around the time when your credit score was wrecked? I imagine the effects of the Nordstroms credit card wore away 5-7 years (I don't recall exactly which) after the $40 was reported as late. So if more than 7 years passed between these two events, you might have a perfect FICO score now, even though you don't know it. I imagine you can just go to CreditKarma for free and use their free "dispute" charge option to permanently erase that Nordstrom black spot forever. I don't think anyone cares a multimillionaire had a forgotten $40 invoice when they were 19.
Also, for anyone above $1MM in liquid networth, most financial institutions treat the credit history as a signal and not the primary signal. I believe you have been above that by a healthy amount for a while now :)
PS: I am a HUGE fan of yours. I wrote all of the above expecting you absolutely wouldn't have a second to read a word but if you do, Thank You not only for reading (I hope atleast some of it helps you) but for your comments on HN from which I have learned a lot.