Carol, I think it's far easier for someone to empty your bank with a stolen credit card....they can walk into a bunch of stores, buy stuff with it, and no one questions them! This has happened to several people I know. No one I know has lost any of their money through a stolen or lost debit card (and I lost one by leaving it at a bank machine in downtown Toronto...it disappeared in under 2 minutes, because it was gone when I ran back to that bank machine to look for it)....

People can't use your debit card to purchase anything unless they know the pin number. How can they know the pin number?

This is why nothing resulted from whatever person stole my debit card. They couldn't use it without the pin number. I went to a branch bank ASAP and got another debit card...with a new pin number.

Credit cards are also handy...but they are very easy for people to commit fraud with, and that will happen fast if they get stolen...usually within the next half hour or sooner...and the person will buy thousands of dollars worth of stuff in numerous small amounts.

They can't do that with your debit card. They don't have the pin number (unless they stick a gun in your face and make you tell them what it is, in which case you are basically screwed regardless...).

Another thing with debit cards...there is a daily limit on how much you can withdraw from your account with them. You can't just empty a large account. The transaction will be refused by the machine.