difference between a "debit card" and a "cred

For consumers, the difference between a "debit card" and a "credit card" is that the debit card deducts the balance from a deposit account, like a checking account, whereas the credit card allows the consumer to spend money on credit to the issuing bank. In other words, a debit card uses the money you have and a credit card uses the money you don't have.

A credit card is, in essence, a loan. It doesn’t matter if it is a secure credit card, a small business credit card or anything else: the credit card company is lending you money in order to make your purchase, for which you are going to be charged interest on later (assuming you don’t pay the total balance within a predetermined period).

A debit card, on the other hand, is not a loan. It is simply a method following some of the principles of credit cards for the basic transaction, but instead of borrowing money from a third party you are taking money straight from your debit card account. Because of this there are no interest rates applied to prepaid debit cards, although often there are fees associated with them. It is sometimes possible to go overdrawn (effectively a loan), and incur interest charges and/or fees.

"Debit cards" which are linked directly to a checking account are sometimes dual-purpose, so that they can be used as a credit card, and can be charged by merchants using the traditional credit networks. A merchant will ask for "credit or debit?" if the card is a combined credit+debit card. If the payee chooses "credit", the credit balance will be debited the amount of the purchase; if the payee chooses "debit", the bank account balance will be debited the amount of the purchase.

The "debit" networks usually require that a personal identification number be supplied. The "credit" networks typically require that purchases be made in person and often allow cards to be charged with only a signature, and/or picture ID.