Clark absolutely hates debit cards and routinely describes them as "piece of trash fake MasterCard or Visas." But what if there were a way to have the debit part of your debit card turned off -- essentially rendering it only useful for ATM withdrawals?

It turns out there is! Special thanks to our listener Tracy for letting us know how he got his credit union to deactivate all debit capabilities on his card.

Here's the scoop: Every debit card has 2 limits, or sides of data, that your bank or credit union sets internally. One is the ATM side. The other is called the point of sale (POS) side. This POS side is the one that allows all transactions that are not at an ATM -- even ones that still require a PIN.

Your ATM side should always be active and enabled to track your current available balance. But your POS side can and should be set to zero and turned off entirely. It's just a matter of disabling the portion of the magnetic strip that accesses the debit function, leaving your card with only traditional ATM capabilities.

Your bank or credit union may give you the option turn off the POS function on your debit card upon your request. You only need to ask. In Tracy's case, there was no fee to have this done. Be sure to check to see if it's a possibility and what the cost will be, if any.

You'll still have a Visa or MasterCard logo on the front of your card, but the POS function won't be able to read your balance. If you tried to use it as a debit card, it would see zero funds and your purchase would be denied.

This is a great way to protect yourself!