[apsurd]

As a rule, I only use credit cards. I have a debit card for the sole purpose of using ATMs.

In the case your card is lost or stolen, you aren't liable for any fraudulent purchases and the most important thing - you haven't actually lost any money; only the credit card company has.

I'd hate to have to jump through hoops and wait a month to get my money back. For a large percentage of the population, losing a couple grand quite literally means they can't eat or pay the rent that week/month.

Credit is great!

[smsm42]

For many card transactions the credit card company would issue chargeback in the case of fraud for the merchant, which will end up losing money and paying additional fees. So the losing party is frequently not the CC company but the seller.

Losing credit can be a problem too, especially if one has regular bills coming through credit card, which are not problem regularly, but if part of the credit is frozen by the fraudulent activity, this may become a mess. I'm not sure how all banks behave during a fraud dispute, but they very well may reduce credit by the disputed amount until the dispute is resolved, even without the owner having to pay anything.

[lusr]

I'd argue that having a blocked credit card is FAR more manageable than a blocked debit card and this is precisely why I almost always only carry credit cards (I also move my income into an investment account from my cheque account as soon as I'm paid, less expenses expected in the next week).

Firstly, most recurring billing systems are built with credit card failures in mind - the card can expire or be listed as a hot card, for instance, and needs to be updated. This has happened to me and you are not penalised in any way. I've also, once or twice, gone over my limit without the card being rejected - the bank seems to give me some sort grace credit. This is fine by me since any fraudulent transactions on a credit card are claims against me that the bank needs to prove. I can switch to another credit card if that card gets marked as a hot card.

Secondly, a debit card is usually linked to a cheque or savings account. If it's a cheque account you could end up incurring overdraft charges which totally screw you over and mess up your standing with the bank; if it's a savings account, you're screwed out of your savings while the bank investigates and returns your money (bank I worked for until recently stated that it takes SIX WEEKS to investigate when a friend's debit card was cloned... that's a lot of lost interest).