Do you have a Debit Card for your checking account with a Visa/MC logo? A Warning to Heed!

Late yesterday afternoon I called my bank to alert them that I would be traveling soon to Europe (always do this with cards you're taking on a vacation, BTW) so I wouldn't run into any issues.

But this time with all of the reductions of credit going on I decided I couldn't risk finding out that a credit card I took with me reduced my credit line and left me hanging. So I also told them I'd be taking my debit card.

This is where the "ah ha" came in. The rep asked if I had a secondary checking account that I wanted to make the primary account for my debit card while I was traveling. Huh? Then he explained that if I lost the card it couldn't be used as a debit card without the PIN # but it could be used as a charge card and potentially wipe out my checking account. My bank set me up with another checking account on the phone and made the existing card link to that account as the primary account. I'll get another debit card for it in the mail, and I can always change the primary account back to my regular checking account. But why would I?

Now I don't know about you, but I'd never thought about that and no one at the bank ever brought it up, they just sent me a new debit card a long time ago that now also had the Visa emblem on it.

So a word to the wise - check your debit card and if it has a MC/Visa emblem talk to your bank about it. As far as I'm concerned it isn't just an issue for traveling overseas it's a serious issue, period. You can lose your debit card just as easily as a credit card. And think about this in closing...it's YOUR money that would disappear, not the bank's. Would there be any recourse or protection as with a credit card? My guess is a resounding NO.

New Facebook/Visa Partnership for Small Businesses

For anyone with an online business, here's some info - it's from June, so the offer may no longer be available, but it's still good information!

Visa Gives Away $2 Million in Facebook Ads

By Zachary Rodgers, The ClickZ Network, Jun 25, 2008
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An oft-repeated bromide in social marketing circles is that advertisers should seek to create value for their constituents.

Visa has taken the mantra to heart, creating a Facebook app for small businesses and promising to give away $100 in free Facebook advertising to the first 20,000 proprietors to install it.

"At the moment, with the economy being a bit challenging, [small businesses] are looking for new ways to attract new customers," said Alex Craddock, Visa's head of small business marketing. "This is a way to help them do that... risk-free."

Visa worked with media agency OMD and agency of record AKQA to create the Visa Small Business Network app, which offers small business proprietors advice, resources, and the ability to search for and connect with one another. Among its specific offerings is a software toolkit from Google that melds free products including Google Docs, Google Sites and Google Calendar. Media partners including The Wall Street Journal and Entrepreneur Magazine will contribute advice and content feeds on financial issues related to running a business.

The Facebook effort is part of Visa's new U.S.-based ad campaign geared toward small businesses. Messaging is delivered in the voice of small business owners, and repeats the tagline, "We're anything but small."

"It can be a lonely walk as a small business owner," said Craddock. He added Visa's purpose with the Facebook application is to assist small businesspeople. "This in many respects is a product extension for us."

Visa is creating new online, print and radio ads to drive awareness for the app. Its online media buy will include ads on the Facebook platform.

Under the ad giveaway promotion, it will offer a total of $2 million in Facebook ad credits to small businesses that install the app. In addition to generating good will and brand equity for the credit card services giant, the move should benefit Facebook by generating new awareness and trial customers for its ad platform. "If the business owner finds value in it, they're going to want to keep doing it," Craddock observed.

According to Facebook, approximately 80,000 small businesses already have a presence on its site.

It took me a while to find where this deal was offered, but here is the link:
http://apps.facebook.com/visabusiness/sign_up