12-22-2009, 04:30 AM
You have to be careful shopping online with a debit card. Sometimes your funds are put on hold even if you aren't buying.
An example I can give is an airline ticket on travelocity (or a similar site). I made a reservation and gave the debit card information. I was shortly informed that the flight was no longer available and to find another one. I did with no problem.
What I didn't know is the original charges for the first flight ($500)remained on the card for a couple of days. This caused me to overdraft several small debit card purchases with $200 dollars of service charges.
My bank eventually deleted the charges, but it took some time and a Hilo trip to sort it out.
I avoid this kind of problem now by using a credit card online.
Stoneface
An example I can give is an airline ticket on travelocity (or a similar site). I made a reservation and gave the debit card information. I was shortly informed that the flight was no longer available and to find another one. I did with no problem.
What I didn't know is the original charges for the first flight ($500)remained on the card for a couple of days. This caused me to overdraft several small debit card purchases with $200 dollars of service charges.
My bank eventually deleted the charges, but it took some time and a Hilo trip to sort it out.
I avoid this kind of problem now by using a credit card online.
Stoneface