Using Credit Cards is Always Better than Using a Debit Card

Unless, I am paying with cash, which I do a lot, I use a credit card instead of a debit card because I truly do not have to worry about fraud and giving anyone access to my bank account. As long as you pay off your account each month there is no cost to a credit card and if you have a good rewards program you actually get something back.

A case in point. Several years ago, I was driving a large vehicle with an equally large fuel tank. I used one credit card for part of my purchase and when it hit its limit, I used a second card to finish filling the tank. Well, there was a skimmer on that pump and both cards were stolen. One went East on Interstate 40 racking up charges and one went West on Interstate 40 racking up charges. As soon as I saw what was happening, I called the credit card companies, told them and it never cost me a penny. They just cancelled the cards and sent me new ones. To me that is a wonderful advantage of credit cards as I can only imagine my stress level if I had used two debit cars that they started draining by bank account. Even if I eventually got the money back.

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I agree with your assessment as to why to use credit cards. That said, I do feel there is at least one very important reason to use a debit card. If you cannot control your spending, using a debit card keeps you from overspending or accumulating debt since you can only spend money that you currently have. There are other reasons such as not worrying about paying high interest rates but to me possible overspending and causing mounting debt for yourself is paramount.