Here in Canada, someone with my cash card in his possession does need to know my PIN number to use it. That's even true if you take the card into the bank. To reset the PIN on a card (at least at my bank) you must produce photo ID.

The danger here is in using the pendant for swiping your card and entering the PIN. Evil folks, in a number of cases, have swapped the top of these so they can record your pin and the card strip data and reproduce the card. Banks now have video cameras on their ATMs that record your face while the transaction is made. As I said above, I only use cash cards in a few trusted places.

Given what aehurst and capitalj have posted, I sure am glad that Canada hasn't allowed electronic cheque processing or debit cards without PINs. It would seem that the banks and credit card companies are sacrificing consumer protection for profits in the US.

The same is true here IF you can find a bank that will issue you an ATM or Cash Card. Most will not, instead you get a debit card that is used for both paying for products/services at the register as well as for a withdrawal from an ATM.

Most people are completely unaware that if you swipe the debit card and hit the credit button instead of debit, it gets processed like a credit card only with a direct withdrawal from your account instead of a bill at the end of the month.

Our debit cards can be visually differentiated from a credit card only by the words "debit" or "check card" in small print near the Visa or Master Card logo.

I refused to accept a debit card all the way up till the day the bank simply quit issuing ATM cards. After that it was no easy access to cash or take the debit card... and I caved in. They make the rules.

I just double checked online about my debit card and one of it's features is that it's "protected by Visa's Zero Liability program for all signature-based purchases".

PIN-based transactions are a different story, and there is a resolution process that looks to be tedious and not entirely satisfactory, but I don't use the PIN function and I certainly don't share my PIN.

I never owned an ATM card, and only accepted the debit card with my current account (over a less favorable account without a card) because of the signature-based transactions and protections. PIN-based purchases had fees so I never used that function. From what I've just read, it appears that they no longer do for purchases within the U.S. - but I still need to read the fine print.

This is a bit of consumer culture shock for me I guess. In Canada, "debit card" is synonymous with "bank card" or "ATM card". My debit card is issued to me by my bank and has nothing to do with MasterCard or Visa. Credit cards are entirely separate (although some of the credit card companies are starting to allow cash advances on their cards, which is sort of like a bank card) and the accounts are separate too.