Which Digital Wallet do you trust?

[rcjordan]

from upstream:

The takeaway is that personal accounts have protection but it will be a PITA to resolve. Debit cards are a disaster waiting to happen and have less protection. Your ATM card is probably a debit card now, btw. After paper checks to vendors-known-to-you, your safest bet is doing everything by personal credit card.

Business accounts and business credit cards have little or no protection. Even banks aren't very aware of this, particularly at the local service rep level. I was on the board of directors of a substantial bank and -even then, I couldn't get a solid, well-researched answer from the legal department without raising hell. If you have business c-cards, kill them or at least reduce the $-limit to act as a firestop. I carry separate personal cards with my business name on them. The cc bill is paid by the company but they are technically personal cards (with relatively low $-limits).

For either personal or business, I think the greatest risk is in "the last mile" rather than the banking system. Think that crackhead gas station attendant or waiter can't read your pin# keystrokes upside-down? Then there are skimmers and loggers on the electronic side.

The Equifax breach was the last straw. I've been closing business cards since then. One left to go.

[ergophobe]

Meanwhile, the monthly magazine from my brokerage firm had a full-page article recommending switching to digital wallets instead of using their credit card directly, claiming that the tokenization would make you more secure.

They didn't pick a winner - Apple, Google, Samsung and a fourth one I don't recall right now.

[rcjordan]

Read my lips... brokerage firms don't know jackshit <added> about online banking security risks</added>.

I believe that there is a huge disparity between what the upper echelons of brokerages & financial institutions know and what they actively market to the public regarding online security.  IMO, it's very similar to the tobacco industry's denial and cover-up of the connection between their products and cancer.