10 Things Credit Card Companies Don't Want You To Know. Part 5 0f 10

April has been Credit Card Question and Answer month here at Financial Elite. We continue with Part 5 with information provided from an article from SmartMoney about the little known rules that are costing you money and putting your credit, your identity and your family at risk.

A few summers ago, Vicki Jacobson's college-student son, Craig used his debit card to pay for a taxi ride in Italy. The driver ran his card three separate times as a credit card and three time as a debit card , not knowing that the previous transaction had gone through. Well, I am sure you can guess what happened - Craig paid for that cab ride six times. It took months to clear up the credit card charges, which finally got resolved, but it was much more difficult to get the debit card transactions cleared up.

Why was there so much trouble with the debit card transactions? Debit cards resemble credit cards in all visible ways, but offer the consumer less protection. Some debit cards offer purchase protection, meaning you can replace a damaged item within 90 days, but many did not.

And although unauthorized transactions, such as the three charges on Craig's credit card should be refunded by the issuer, banks are less motivated to speedily resolve cases involving debit cards then credit cards, why is that? Well, debit cards draw on a checking account, meaning they are essentially checks in plastic form. Credit cards are in constitute a loan, so it's the banks money , giving it more reason to protect it.