In what scenario is Sunoco going to try to steal all my money?
I don't even use my debit card for anything, it all goes on a credit card because it's a lot easier to fight a fraudulent charge.
The only difference is that you're potentially out your own money, but with credit cards you're also out of credit until the dispute is resolved, and you can have multiple debit cards and checking accounts just like you can have multiple credit cards as a backup.
I'd rather not be in the situation where I have to realise my "legal right" to ACH chargeback — which will involve hurdles, wasted time, and probably also legal fees — by not giving anyone the authorisation to perform ACH pulls in the first place. Cash works best for this — you're never out of more than what you hand over — but Apple Pay gives me similar protections.
The legal right to have unauthorized payments returned is ultimately backstopped by law. This is the case for both credit and debit cards. That (and scheme rules) is the reason you don't have to shop for the "most chargeback friendly card" or similar.
> Apple Pay gives me similar protections.
How does Apple Pay factor in here? It's just a different way of using your existing credit and debit cards, with exactly the same dispute protections.
In theory; in practice, one reliably and repeatably works, and the other I'm not sure (and not willing to find out.) I've had some experience with stolen checks; while the money has been ultimately returned to me, it was a major hassle, and cost me several sleepless nights.
> How does Apple Pay factor in here?
Apple Pay gives the merchant a generated CC number (per-card, per-device) with a generated one-time security code (for every single purchase.) If the merchant is breached, all the hackers are getting is a generated CC number and a (expired after single use) security code, so they can't charge my Apple Pay card at all — and of course not my real card (which has never been exposed to the merchant to begin with.) The easiest and fastest chargeback is when there is no charge!
But that's exactly my point! People perceive credit cards as safer and don't try anything else, so the perception remains prominent.
It's just a regular trust bootstrapping problem that could only be solved by powerful market players breaking the cycle, and it seems like there isn't really appetite for that in the US.
> Apple Pay gives the merchant a generated CC number (per-card, per-device)[...]
Ah, yes, it does generally protect you from merchant data breaches. But your original point, "you're never out of more than what you hand over", is not quite true – the original merchant can post some subsequent charges on Apple Pay as well without you having to accept anything on your phone.
That doesn't sound like a huge PITA to you that could just be avoided by not giving them that access in the first place?
What's the difference between that and somebody's only credit card getting maxed out by fraudsters? They also can't use it until they receive a provisional credit by their bank.
If your point is that a credit card separates rent from other payments, nothing is stopping you from having multiple checking accounts either.
The takeaway for me would be "don't bank with a customer-hostile bank", though, not "hope that the credit card department of your bank is better than the average of the bank".