Earlier this week I was spending my last evening at home with my family, which includes my younger, twenty-one year old sister who just graduated from college. She was using her laptop to check her bank account when she noticed a charge from the United States Postal Service for $54.10 from two weeks ago.

She knew she had been to the post office on that date, but at first couldn’t remember what she could have gotten for $54.10. Then, she remembered buying a ten pack of 41 cent stamps. Yet the post office had apparently added $50 to the charge.

She immediately became outraged, frustrated and depressed. I didn’t blame her either. The post office employee had apparently charged her an extra $50, either out of error or with a malicious intent by getting $50 cash back for themselves.

After trying to calm her down, my first question was whether she had the receipt. She said no, but again I couldn’t blame her, as I wouldn’t have kept a receipt for a $4.10 purchase either. I then asked if she remembered actually signing the receipt for that amount, but all she could remember is the clerk telling her it was a total of $4.10.

I have to admit that I had to bite my tongue at this point. What I really wanted to ask her was why she was using a debit card in the first place. As I’ve mentioned before, I personally find debit cards way too risky. With all of the issues I have had in the past with incorrect charges to my credit card, I shudder to think how I would have felt if those charges were immediately deducted from my bank account. I’ve had enough issues with deductions from my bank account already, thank you very much!

It was especially problematic for my sister as, being a recent college graduate, as she only had a hundred or so dollars in her account and was worried about checks bouncing. She started searching for her bank’s phone number, in order to start the process of getting her money back. At this point, my father casually mentioned that if it wasn’t an accident, the clerk may have just used cash back to take $50 for himself.

My sister stopped dead. A guilty smile formed on her face, and she said “Um … I just remembered, I got $50 cash back.” My relief over her not actually losing the $50 overcame my disbelief at her having somehow completely forgotten about this small detail, and we had a nice laugh about it. My father and I both put away our wallets at this point, as we coincidentally were both about to give her $50 to help her feel better about the whole ordeal.

The lesson of this story still holds true though. I consider debit cards to be a dangerous form of transaction. If anything, credit cards give the consumer a great deal more protection, as well as giving them more power when it comes to negotiating questionable charges. It is well worth learning the challenges of controlling spending habits for all the benefits a credit card offers.