[throwaway287391]

> I have a credit card but I very very very rarely use it for anything.

But why? The credit card is strictly better isn't it? I thought the main reason people used debit cards was that they got one automatically with their checking account and just never bothered to apply for a CC, but that's not the issue for you.

[gambiting]

I don't know, when I use my debit card it just goes out of my main account, done, don't have to worry about it. On my credit card I'll have bigger purchases I made some time ago and I'm working towards paying them off - if I put all my monthly purchases there too, I'd lose track of how much of that I need to pay off monthly and how much I've got left on my main account.

And yes, it can be easily worked out but I guess I just can't be arsed. And for purchases under £100, credit cards offer no additional protection whatsoever, so for my daily shopping I'd just be making my life more difficult for no reason.

[cameronh90]

Nowadays with open banking, apps are starting to be able to aggregate all your accounts and credit cards into a single pane of glass. It isn't perfect yet, but it's getting there.

[lmm]

> And for purchases under £100, credit cards offer no additional protection whatsoever, so for my daily shopping I'd just be making my life more difficult for no reason.

They offer better protection against fraudulent charges though? If your card gets skimmed it doesn't matter whether you were paying £5 or £5000.

[yulaow]

I don't know in Uk or USA, but in the rest of europe there is no difference at all in protection against fraudulent charges between a credit and a debit card.

[cameronh90]

There's no difference with fraudulent charges in the UK, as far as I'm aware, but when you buy a product or service on credit, we have a law saying the credit provider and retailer are both liable.

This means for example if you buy a flight and the airline goes out of business, your credit card provider will need to refund you. Also if goods are faulty, you now have two possibilities to get your money back - and the credit card companies are usually more amenable.

[gambiting]

I never understood this point - my debit card has been charged fraudulently couple of times, all it always took was a quick call to Barclays, 2 minutes on the phone with the agent and the charges were reversed and the card cancelled.

What exactly can a credit card do better than this?

[lmm]

You called and the money was available for you to spend within 2 minutes? When it happened to me I had to go in and fill out a form and wait about a month (not easy on a student budget).

[gambiting]

Yep. I rang and said there's a payment I don't recognize and that I didn't make, for Uber in Vietnam. The agent was like "yep, looks fraudulent, we'll cancel it right now and are sending a new card straight away". Money was back by the time I disconnected from the call. Second time it was someone buying stuff on PSN with my card, exact same situation - had the money back instantly.

[vel0city]

A friend of mine had her debit card skimmed years ago. The skimmer used it in the area around town, going to restaurants and buying gas in the area. When she noticed the fraudulent charges (transaction declined) she contacted her bank. It took a week for most of her charges to be investigated and reversed, in the mean time she had absolutely no cash.

[blibble]

if they disagree with your assessment it's a different story with a debit vs. credit card

the key difference is with the debit card it's your money that's been stolen, whereas with a credit card it's the bank's money