Debit card fails

I haven't paid attention to debit cards for 40 years.  When I helped found Mastercard I was a strong opponent of debit cards and my arguments and persuasion were successful in keeping them off the market for decades after I left banking.

Now we have to deal with the problems I foresaw so clearly.

- Many auto rental companies won't let you use a debit card unless they are given advance notice so they can do a credit check (unnecessary cost).  Auto rentals were the back bone of the early adoption of universal credit cards.

- Ordinary credit card shoppers are now endlessly badgered 'is that credit or debit?'. Frankly that is offensive.

  - When a debit card is stolen it means several days without money in the checking account and bounced checks. The money gets replaced and the OD charges reversed but it is often a nightmare, especially for low balance customers.

- Anyone who can get a debit card can get a 'limited value' credit card and not have to get a credit check for auto rentals or airline tickets.

The bankers who were pushing for debit cards, when I was a banker, hated the idea of credit cards because they didn't believe anything but cash was moral. To them, a debit card was just a plastic check, which it is. It was almost acceptable to them. Really.

Long after I left banking, the banker morality is finally getting its revenge.