4 ms·

I'm in the UK and my debit card literally says "VISA debit" in the lower right corner (with "debit" in much smaller text). In any case, there are a couple of i

I'm in the UK and my debit card literally says "VISA debit" in the lower right corner (with "debit" in much smaller text). In any case, there are a couple of important semantic differences between a debit card vs a credit card that you pay off immediately: * you automatically get insurance/protection for certain purchases in a credit card (so I read, I've never used it) * It's much worse if someone steals your debit card details and starts making purchases than it is for a credit card, because it's linked to your current account that you use for other stuff. If your credit card gets deactivated for a while then it's no big deal really.

simoncion 3y ago
> ...because it's linked to your current account that you use for other stuff. I solve this by having separate accounts for the debit cards that get manually populated with some money every now and again. I also have a separate account to pay "Bills that will make me homeless if I don't pay them", so no matter what happens with my debit cards (and no matter how long it takes the bank-issued checks (some of my creditors still refuse to do electronic transfers, I have no idea why) to be cashed), I know those pending payments are accounted for and will not bounce.
tomatocracy 3y ago
The "automatic insurance" thing is called section 75 protection. Legally it's more limited than you might think - it only applies to purchases over £100 and under £30000 for example and I think there's a lack of clarity if eg PayPal purchases are covered or not even within those limits. However, the debit card industry (as do some other oddities like Amex charge cards) largely voluntarily offer very similar protection to section 75 on debit card purchases and the credit card industry largely voluntarily offer the same protection on purchases under £100.

simoncion 3y ago

> ...because it's linked to your current account that you use for other stuff. I solve this by having separate accounts for the debit cards that get manually populated with some money every now and again. I also have a separate account to pay "Bills that will make me homeless if I don't pay them", so no matter what happens with my debit cards (and no matter how long it takes the bank-issued checks (some of my creditors still refuse to do electronic transfers, I have no idea why) to be cashed), I know those pending payments are accounted for and will not bounce.

tomatocracy 3y ago

The "automatic insurance" thing is called section 75 protection. Legally it's more limited than you might think - it only applies to purchases over £100 and under £30000 for example and I think there's a lack of clarity if eg PayPal purchases are covered or not even within those limits. However, the debit card industry (as do some other oddities like Amex charge cards) largely voluntarily offer very similar protection to section 75 on debit card purchases and the credit card industry largely voluntarily offer the same protection on purchases under £100.