Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions.
Key Principles
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers.
Editorial Independence
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information.
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey.
Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers.
We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money.
Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service.
Here are 12 tips for using your debit card wisely:
1. Know which type of debit card you have, and ask your bank whether you have a choice. Some consumers have complained that the bank changed their ATM cards to debit cards that do not require personal identification numbers without letting them know.
2. Always protect your ATM card and keep it in a safe place, just as you would cash, credit cards or checks.
3. Do not leave your debit card lying around the house or on your desk at work.
4. If your card is lost or stolen, or you suspect it is being used fraudulently, report it immediately to your bank.
5. Close your account and ask your bank for a new account number and PIN.
6. Hold on to receipts from your debit transactions. Don’t throw them in public trash cans or even in your own trash without first shredding them. Crooks have been known to “dumpster-dive” for documents that have account numbers and other personal information.
7. Memorize your PIN, and do not write it on your card.
8. Don’t choose a PIN a smart thief could figure out, such as numbers corresponding to your birth date or your phone number.
9. Never give your PIN to anyone. Keep it private.
10. Always know how much money you have in your account, and review bank statements carefully. Don’t forget that your debit card may allow you to access money that you have set aside to cover a check that has not yet cleared your bank.
11. Keep your receipts in one place for easy retrieval and better oversight of your account.
12. Never give your debit card number over the phone unless you initiated the call and are certain that the recipient is legitimate.
Share