Debit card or credit card- which works better

These days carrying liquid cash and use it for varied purpose is inconvenient and unsafe. Using a credit card or a debit card is always a better option. If you are confused about choosing one type over the other, then you should find out information and then proceed. There are several online sources that feature complete information about the debit and credit cards so that you can easily take a learned decision and use according to your convenience.


These days carrying liquid cash and use it for varied purpose is inconvenient and unsafe. Using a credit card or a debit card is always a better option. If you are confused about choosing one type over the other, then you should find out information and then proceed. There are several online sources that feature complete information about the debit and credit cards so that you can easily take a learned decision and use according to your convenience. However, there is a never ending debate, which goes like- debit or credit card- which one is better? Here are some common merits and demerits of both these varieties. This will give you an idea how these cards work.

Using credit cards is simple. Suppose you have visited a store (land based or online) and searching for the items that you want to purchase. Once you have found your items, all you need to do is plug in the number of your credit card and the process of purchase is over. You are not actually paying for your purchase at that time; the merchant will get the money from the company that has issued the card to you. Generally, the merchants receive money within 30 days period and that is the time within which you will also receive the bill from the credit card company. You have to pay off the full payment or remit a part of it. This is actually dependant on specific terms of different companies.

You can use a debit card in the similar fashion, at least in several respects. Consider similar example. You have visited a shop, picked up an item and now provide your debit card number to process the payment. Here also, the merchant will receive the payment through the company that provided you the card. However, the catch is that your account must contain sufficient money at that point of time. Using a debit card means you are agreeing to directly deduct money from your account immediately. If in any case, your account balance becomes nil, you cannot purchase anything by using the card, which is different in case of credit cards.

The above mentioned point shows that credit cards have a certain edge as you don’t need to have money available while purchasing anything. You can pay for the item within 30 days and based on your policy term you may not have to pay the entire sum at one time as well. However, this advantage can sometime turn into a big disadvantage. The users sometimes get carried away and keep using the card for items that might not be very essential. What happens is that they accrue huge debts and paying them off becomes troublesome. Sometimes people never recover from such big debts. This works as a benefit for the debit card users as they are aware about the balance remaining in their account and have more control over the urge to buy something, which is of less necessity.