Thursday, December 15, 2011

Can I use my debit card as credit card ?

I have seen someone saying that I can use my debit card as credit card.





1. What are the advantages ?





2. When I swipe the debit card, the card readers automatically knows that its debit and will ask me for the pin, how do I use it as credit card ?|||The one word answer is: NO.





Debit cards are in effect, just like a checking account. You deposit money and then using the debit card, effectively write a check against the funds on deposit. A credit card is an unsecured short term loan, where you borrow money with preapproved credit and then repay the loan at a later date. So, you see, the major difference is in who has the money at the moment when you use the card. With the debit card, the bank has the money already on deposit. With the credit card, you have the money in your savings account until you give it to the bank later. With a debit card, you PAY them to hold your money and for the convenience of using a card instead of cash from your back pocket. With a credit card, your money stays in your savings account earning interest for YOU until you have to pay the bill. Provided you pay your credit card bill in full, you are charged NO INTEREST from the time you make a purchase until the bill arrives and you pay the bill. You could go for at least 25 and as many as 55 days earning interest before you turn the monmey over to pay your bill in full BEFORE the due date. Frankly, I can see NO logic in a debit card. Why not simply use a paper check? With the debit card, they charge you fees and woe be unto you if you overdraw your account. I've heard horror stories of people running up huge fees and penalties. A friend of mine got hit for a bunch recently. He forgot to make a deposit and then made about a dozen small purchases of a few dollars each. Half of these were made after he ran out of money. He was hit for a $35 penalty for EACH overdraft. For charges that totaled less than $50 in goods, he was charged about $200 in penalties. Debit cards are THE biggest cash cow for banks ever devised. As long as I pay my credit card bill in full every month and am not ever late in paying, the bank is extending me an interest free short term loan, AND for every day my money stays in the bank, it earns interest for ME until I turn it over to the bank to pay my bill.





So, you tell ME, does a debit card make ANY sense to YOU? I DO admit one thing, it IS convenient to use a card instead of going to the bank and withdrawing cash from your savings account. But still, why pay SO much for this convenience? Or are you really that lazy that you can't plan ahead for a purchase and simply withdraw cash in advance and then pay as you go? I use my credit cards ALL of the time instead of carrying cash. Then, when the bill is due, I pay in full, every month. Interest on those dollars that stayed in my savings account adds up AND over time, they keep on increasing my credit limit to the point that I could buy a BMW and charge it. By the way, you can negotiate with a bank to waive an annual fee on a credit card, but you can NOT get the fees on a debit card waived. I wonder why not...|||Yes you can use your debit card as a credit card as long as it has a Visa, mastercard etc logo on it. The advantages are that you will be charging your account checking account the amount that you spend which means you will be spending your own money from your checking account and you don't have to pay back anything to the bank (unless you overdraft). Another thing is that you don't get charged interest or an annual fee. Unlike a credit card if you don't pay it in full every month you will be charged interest and their maybe an annual fee that you need to pay.|||Tell the cashier that you want to do credit, or sometimes there is a button on the reader that selects credit.





No big advantage to using a debit card as credit, except that you might not have to sign if it's a small purchase, and won't have to key in your number.





What is happening when you swipe your card now is that it's being recognized as an ATM card, with (sometimes) the capability of cash back. This is cheaper for the store, so I can see why they might have a preference for it.|||Yes you can if it has a visa or mastercard logo on it. You can use it just like you would a credit card at any store that accepts credit cards but the funds will be deducted from your checking account.





When you swipe it, it'll normally give you the option to use it like a credit card where you will be asked to sign the receipt OR it'll ask you if you want to use it as a debit card where you will be asked to enter your PIN. I would suggest that you use it as a credit card for security reasons so that you don't have to worry about someone possibly seeing your PIN as you enter it.|||When it asks for your PIN, press cancel and the credit option will show.

No comments:

Post a Comment