On 05/06/2017 7:55 PM, dpb wrote:
....

The biggest difference is what you're already experiencing except in
spades--when a debit card transaction occurs, real _OR_ fraudulent, the
money is gone from your account at that instant and it's up to somebody
else to get it back or you're out.

....

I don't know just how fast these "holds" actually get cleared; I would
presume within minutes if not seconds after the transaction is actually
completed the final billing transaction occurs.

Thus, even though your bank balance really does take such a "ding", it
lasts only a very short time and so unless you're trying to do two
transactions simultaneously, you never really notice.

OTOH, if somebody actually makes a fraudulent transaction, now they've
either got the actual hard cash if it were an ATM withdrawal or the
merchandise or whatever it was and the $$ are gone from your account not
to return _UNTIL_ you make the complaint and go through the process.

If it is really fraud, the chances of them cooperating as BOA suggests
you should do first is, of course, zero. Only in the case of you're
dissatisfied with a purchase or the like does that ever come into play;
probably the least likely occurrence in the real world with gas pump
skimmers and all the other nefarious ways to compromise your security.

Glad to have cheered your day...

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