Credit and Debit cards are different things. Debit cards are the European style 'put in a pin and money is debited directly from your bank checking account'.
Credit cards are a revolving line of credit from a bank - you're spending against the LOC, and settle up on a monthly basis (to some extent - there's interest and pay-over-time involved in most as well).
The difference in accounts: banks offer substantially higher (although, basically still really low due to todays market) interest on money sitting in savings accounts, and restrict the use and availability of that money. Banks backed by the Federal reserve have to maintain a minimum ratio of deposited money to loans, and these restrictions/incentives are how they keep those in line and stay legal.
And for what it's worth, 99% of my spending is on a credit card, which I pay off monthly. I can't remember the last time I used cash or paper checks.
We also have many different ways to transfer money around, etc. using apps and things.
The main difference is that if someone steals your debit card info and goes on a spending spree, that money is gone from your account until the fraud folks at your bank can deal with it.
This may result in overdrafts from other automatic payments or not being able to pay for things you need, until the money is restored to your account.
I used a debit card to pay for dinner. Merchant accidentally charged me 15 times.
Noticed the next day - called bank. '7-10 business days to resolve', or I could go get the merchant to refund it (which I did immediately).
That money came directly out of my checking account, and was 'gone', functionally until I got them to credit it back.
Same thing happens on my credit card: the credit card company floats the missing cash for at least 30 days, at no loss to me while it 'gets worked out'.
And that's with everybody (merchant, bank, etc.) agreeing it was an accident. If it was actually fraudulent, I dunno how long it'd take...
Similar experience here. Now I exclusively use credit cards for all purchases, my debit card is only for pulling cash out of a machine or sometimes grocery purchases where I am going to get cash back. Better to have the banks money on the line than mine.
In addition to what the other commenter said, I think in practice, doing a chargeback is a lot less painful than calling you your bank and asking for your money back. Of course definitely depends on bank and credit card issuer.
Credit and Debit cards are different things. Debit cards are the European style 'put in a pin and money is debited directly from your bank checking account'. Credit cards are a revolving line of credit from a bank - you're spending against the LOC, and settle up on a monthly basis (to some extent - there's interest and pay-over-time involved in most as well).
The difference in accounts: banks offer substantially higher (although, basically still really low due to todays market) interest on money sitting in savings accounts, and restrict the use and availability of that money. Banks backed by the Federal reserve have to maintain a minimum ratio of deposited money to loans, and these restrictions/incentives are how they keep those in line and stay legal.
And for what it's worth, 99% of my spending is on a credit card, which I pay off monthly. I can't remember the last time I used cash or paper checks.
We also have many different ways to transfer money around, etc. using apps and things.