Comments on: Debit Card Versus Credit Card – Which Is Better?

By: The Happy Rock

The Happy Rock — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 03:09:47 +0000

Although the federal laws are different for credit cards and debit cards, both Visa and Mastercard(the biggest issuers) have zero tolerance policies on all their cards to my knowledge.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 01:16:48 +0000

ChristianPF, I actually prefer credit cards – but I pay everything in full each month. There are more protections for credit cards, and the cash back, while not much, is a nice bonus. plus you get to float your charges for a month, so you earn an extra bit of interest each month (though again, it’s not much).

But I won’t recommend credit cards for anyone who doesn’t pay them in full each month!

By: ChristianPF

ChristianPF — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:22:16 +0000

I agree with Brad – while there are advantages to using credit cards, I personally prefer to use a debt card. And to add to Kristen’s comment, if you use a bank like ING, they don’t have overdraft charges per se – they just charge you interest for the amount of time your are overdrawn. So instead of getting a $30 fee, you can get away paying 10 cents if you transfer money over quickly… Not a bad deal…

By: Kristen

Kristen — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:28:00 +0000

I think which card to use depends on the situation. In general I use a debit card, however, if I’m traveling I prefer to use a credit card because it does offer more protections. For regular, day to day expenditures, I think a debit card is fine … as long as you are very careful to track your expenses and not overdraw your account. The last thing you want to do is get an overdraft fee because you spent $1.65 too much at a fastfood place or something like that.

By: Curious Cat Investing Blog

Curious Cat Investing Blog — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 03:09:05 +0000

A credit card is better. You just need to pay it off each month. In addition to the lost card issues just consumer protections for purchases (that you made) are stronger for credit card purchases as I understand it.

By: Brad Castro

Brad Castro — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 01:25:29 +0000

I know people who put everything on a credit card and then pay it off in full each month, but I still think a debit card is the better way to go for one very important but rarely articulated reason – you’re much more likely to track your daily expenditures in “real time.”

With a debit card, I can reconcile my bank balance daily and have a much better sense of where I am with my current budget. If I put everything on a credit card, it’s unlikely that I’m going to go through the trouble of signing in to monitor my credit balance and transactions – I’m more likely to just wait until I get the statement and be “surprised” by all the transactions I made and already forgot about.

From personal experience, the more aware I am of my finances the less I tend to spend.