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I only use credit cards now, and just pay them off every month. And it is more common for them to be compromised by unscrupulous waiters, etc. when you do “card present” transactions than via internet purchases.

Oh, and our B of A Visa has been compromised four times in as many years. And the only reason we know is because we get a new card in the mail and an email explaining it. My wife’s Amex was compromised once.

I’ve done some PCI compliance work. The first thing I learned was to NEVER use my debit card for purchases. If someone gets your debit card number, the money is actually taken out of your checking account. Sure, you may get it all back, but in the meantime, checks and legitimate electronic payments are bouncing and you have no money.

I "came up with an idea for that".

There's no law against have 2 checking accounts. One at one bank, one at another.

A) Use one to pay bills with checks - do not have a debit card linked to that account, just use the checks.

B) Use the other to do online purchases with a debit card.

If the bank/account you use for online purchases is kept with little to nothing in it, you will simply need to plan your online purchases, i.e., put money into the account before you make a purchase. I find that planning purchases is better than impulse buying anyway.

IMHO, the banking industry wants their customers to all have a line of credit. They know that the odds are in their favor that people with lines of credit will wind up using them. So they continually, 24x7, "educate" and advertise everywhere that consumer credit is essential. We now have a nation where very few people have any liquid net worth that is not locked up in an account with restrictions on it for "early withdrawal". People without access to capital or who carry debt are not much better off than slaves.