The Risks Associated with Your Cards

There are three types of cards available in the market - debit cards, ATM cards and credit cards. There are risks associated with each of these cards and you should be aware of those.
ATM cards offer limited convenience of withdrawing cash from the ATM machines. These cards cannot be used for making any purchases, in stores or on-line. There are limited risks associated with this type of cards. If your card is stolen, it can be misused by the thieves on ATM machines. While you are using your card, a thief may be waiting behind you to watch your actions. Then he will try to steal the card from you. If he is successful, he can empty your bank balance within no time. If you take care of your wallet properly, the risks with these cards are much less.
Debit cards provide better facilities than ATM cards. With these cards you can shop online or in stores. It is not a credit card, but it offers similar services. The only difference is - when you swipe your debit card, money is immediately withdrawn from your checking account. This card poses maximum problems when used fraudulently by thieves. When you swipe this card in the machines of retailers, your information is automatically stored inside that machine. With the help of this information, thieves can easily access your account. When they make online purchases, the money directly goes from your checking account. This is risky as compared to a credit card.
Credit cards are issued by banks or card companies extending credit to the cardholders. It is a kind of loan which must be paid back with interest and penalties, if you do not pay your balance within a fixed time. This card is not attached to your checking account.
There are a lot of on-line shopping opportunities where identification of the credit card holder is not required. Thieves use stolen credit cards to towards these opportunities.
The risks associated with debit cards are more and then with the credit cards. The money is immediately taken from your checking account when you use your debit card. The banks will expect a very quick intimation for any misuse of your debit card because once the money is taken out from your checking account; it becomes very difficult for the banks to recover it. To the contrary, the liability with the fraudulent use of credit cards is limited to $50 if you notify your card company promptly.
So should you stop using your cards altogether? Well that is not possible in real life. What you can do is take some precautions. You can request your bank to issue you an ATM only card which you can use only for cash withdrawals. You should stop using debit cards altogether. Regarding credit cards, you should regularly check on-line the transactions so that you can locate any fraud immediately.