I think it boils down to the Truth In Lending Act [1] requires credit card companies to provide more protections than the Electronic Fund Transfer Act [2] requi

I think it boils down to the Truth In Lending Act [1] requires credit card companies to provide more protections than the Electronic Fund Transfer Act [2] requires banks to provide. And according to Wikipedia, the TLA is ~10 years older than the EFTA, so at one time only credit card transfers were protected at all. And regardless of the law, it kind of makes sense. A debit card transfers money directly from your account to the vendor's account. With a credit card they have to get the money from Visa, and Visa has to get the money from you. If you say, "This isn't what I wanted, I'm not paying," it doesn't matter with a debit card because the money is already gone. Visa isn't going to get screwed, so if you threaten not to pay, they're not going to give money to the vendor until it's settled. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_in_Lending_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_in_Lending_Act [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Fund_Transfer_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Fund_Transfer_Act