Why would anyone use a debit card instead of a credit card? There seems to be no advantage to a debit card. And if you pay it off monthly, several advantages to a credit card.
RSKY
We have both a credit card and a debit card.
The debit card is paid off immediately because it draws directly from the account, so there's no bill to pay at the end of the month. We get a nice, itemized statement that we can see what we bought. Plugs directly into our financial software electronically. Here's some of the benefits we get with the debit card:
Cash back
Travel miles
Zero Liability on unauthorized purchases
24/7 emergency services.
ID theft protection
ID theft alerts
Satisfaction Guarantee up to 60 days if a store won't accept a return
Extended warranty (doubles original warranty)
Purchase Assurance (90 day coverage on damaged or stolen purchases)
For all intents and purposes, it's a Mastercard without the loan, and a plastic check book in one. You have to have the money in your account before you use it. That instills discipline (not that we need it at this stage in our life).
The credit card is tied to a home equity line of credit that we can borrow against if needed. We rarely use it, but have purchased large items, like cars, building materials for a garage addition, vacation rentals, etc. We almost always pay it off before it's due, but have taken a couple/three months to pay it off once in a while on really large purchases so we don't drain the bank account all at once.
The advantage to the home equity line of credit for us is that it is considered a mortgage. We have a mortgage exemption that saves on property taxes. So long as we never spend more in interest payments on that card than we'd have payed in the property taxes saved, we're ahead. In the 25 years that we've had it, we never paid more than a few hundred dollars in interest per year.
We see no advantage to a credit card over our debit card other than the ability/temptation to take out a loan on the spot.
