Comment by phil21

> There seem to be a lot of people in this thread who have never actually been through this and are just apeing what other people say online.

I've been through it personally and with friends.

My experience was basically yours. I am a relatively highly paid professional with a large amount of assets with my bank. I get pretty good service, even at my giant national retail bank. I call, make a demand, they tend to just do it without too many questions.

My more low income friends have also gone through it, and I've assisted with them since they were panic'ing. Their experience is absolutely nothing like mine. Every single one spent days to weeks being sandbagged by sometimes the same bank I dealt with on my issue.

Your experience will very greatly depending on how "valuable" of a customer your bank feels you are to them.

> U.S. banks largely give debit cards the same protections as credit cards for at least the last 15 years.

On paper, sure. In practice, no. Funds frozen during an "investigation" matter a whole lot more when it's your money vs. a made up credit limit number that wasn't real to begin with.