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A word about debit cards:
If your debit card has a MasterCard or Visa logo, and if you can "charge" purchases without entering a PIN number, anyone with your card or its number can wipe out your checking account. Also, if you continue to use the card after the account has been wiped out, your "overdraft protection" will kick in and you'll be charged $20-30 per overage. And, if you have written paper checks on this account, once it's wiped out, you'll have checks bouncing all over town at $20 or so a pop.
Never, ever, link your debit card to MasterCard or Visa, and never, ever sign up for "overdraft protection." Every purchase should require your PIN number. And when you overdraw the account accidentally, the clerk should tell you, "Sorry, but this purchase has been declined."
Lessons learned from experience, BTW. And even if the bank gives you credit for all of the purchases, those bounced check fees from retailers aren't going away.
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