Mastercard Caps Debit Card Liability

MasterCard International said Wednesday it wouldn’t hold consumers liable for more than $50 when a thief steals a debit card, which makes immediate payments from checking accounts.

Prior to the change by MasterCard, the No. 2 player in the branded debit card business, consumers were potentially liable to pay for anything bought with a stolen debit card.

Effective immediately, a person who loses a MasterCard-branded debit card, or has the card’s identification number stolen, will only be responsible for $50 worth of charges, even if the thief uses it for thousands of dollars worth of transactions. The legal limit for fraud loss on credit cards is $50.

The biggest debit card issuer, Visa International, said Wednesday that it had been considering lowering the liability limit on its own cards, and that it would issue a statement about potential changes soon.