Customers Should Realize Risks of Using Debit Cards

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WASHINGTON -- As some lawmakers pushed for a ban on unsolicited loan checks and a $50 cap on consumers' liability for stolen debit cards, a Federal Reserve governor said Wednesday such laws aren't needed.

But Laurence Meyer also put Visa and MasterCard on notice that consumers should be informed of the risks of increasingly popular debit cards.

"It is in everyone's best interest to assure that the public understands the new risks" in many debit card transactions, the central bank governor told a hearing of the House Banking subcommittee on financial institutions and consumer credit. Unlike automated teller machine cards, debit cards don't require use of a …