I phoned up my bank (HSBC in the UK) a few days ago to explain that their bank-issued Visa debit card is not secure: Verified by Visa is akin to protecting my money with a sheet of paper. Their explanation was, and I am not joking, that the system was American and so poor them can't do anything about it.
Honestly, the banks don't care. They've shifted the burden of dealing with fraud onto us consumers, but gave rubbish security tools. They have no incentive to change, until a big theft happens. Even then, I doubt they'll change their ways.
The security in Visa, for the most part, doesn't come from protecting you from illegitimate charges happening in the first place, but rather in the fact that there's a chain of authentication so that charges can be reversed at any time, and an expert system trained on your buying habits so that you'll be alerted when you probably do need to make a reversal.
In the USA all potential costs from fraud go to the credit card company, not the consumer. This fact excuses a lot of stupidity, because the company bears the risk. In Britain the laws are, I understand, rather different.
If your bank is providing a US based system with British liability rules, then you've got a real problem and I pity you.
Comments
That response seems to be par for the course.
I phoned up my bank (HSBC in the UK) a few days ago to explain that their bank-issued Visa debit card is not secure: Verified by Visa is akin to protecting my money with a sheet of paper. Their explanation was, and I am not joking, that the system was American and so poor them can't do anything about it.
Honestly, the banks don't care. They've shifted the burden of dealing with fraud onto us consumers, but gave rubbish security tools. They have no incentive to change, until a big theft happens. Even then, I doubt they'll change their ways.
The security in Visa, for the most part, doesn't come from protecting you from illegitimate charges happening in the first place, but rather in the fact that there's a chain of authentication so that charges can be reversed at any time, and an expert system trained on your buying habits so that you'll be alerted when you probably do need to make a reversal.
In the USA all potential costs from fraud go to the credit card company, not the consumer. This fact excuses a lot of stupidity, because the company bears the risk. In Britain the laws are, I understand, rather different.
If your bank is providing a US based system with British liability rules, then you've got a real problem and I pity you.