With a debit card I have to take money out of my savings or money market account beforehand and make sure that money is in my checking account before I make a p

With a debit card I have to take money out of my savings or money market account beforehand and make sure that money is in my checking account before I make a purchase and make sure there's a buffer in there in case of holds, fraud, mistake, etc. Otherwise I'm risking my mortgage payment bouncing or overdrafts and all the fees associated with that. So I either have to watch my checking account like a hawk to make sure my spending estimates are on target or have a big buffer of money that makes no interest. With a charge card I can just make the purchase willy nilly and transfer out of my savings the exact amount of money I've spent all at once at bill pay time. If I get an unexpected charge then my mortgage doesn't bounce and I don't get hit with overdraft fees. Not only that, the statement only closes once a month, so I have a pretty significant interest free period; which is great if I'm fronting money for work expenses and have to wait for the reimbursement, for example. There's also better fraud protection, rewards, and other benefits (rental car insurance, extended warranties, purchase protection, trip delay insurance, return protection, etc. etc.) that I don't get with a debit card but I do get with a charge card. Your debit card use doesn't effect your credit score/history but using a charge card does since it still is a credit line, even if the loan term is very short.