You are correct. But used properly a credit card can do the same thing, with the added advantage of a 30-60 day float before you actually have to part with the money. To me, this gives you an advantage with the merchant or contractor, since you haven’t actually paid yet and can dispute the transaction. I assume you can dispute a debit card transaction (dunno I don’t use one), but the money’s already been taken from your account so you’ve lost a lot of leverage.
Plus, debit cards didn’t even exist at the time I got my first credit cards.
My recollection is that there were ATM cards pretty early, and I had one of those before my first credit card, but they only worked at ATM machines, and there were not POS terminals. Credit cards were actually used by putting them in one of those gizmos with a stack of paper and carbon paper (before carbonless copy paper!), and a roller made copies for everyone. Amazing technology
.
But, as far as being able to dispute transactions, no, there's no protection from fraud or theft with your debit card. Now, most banks do have a
policy for their cards that mimics credit card
legal requirements to limit your exposure to $50 in case of theft, etc. But, it's only a policy. So, if you put your debit card number into a computer, and it gets saved somewhere that gets hacked, and all your money is emptied from your account, you might be screwed. With a credit card, you are out $50 max.
Plus, credit cards almost universally offer some kind of "points" or cash back version. The wife and/or I fly for free somewhere probably every other year. And, yes, we pay off the card religiously every month. (We do have more than one, but only one gets used for
everything so points add up faster - the other couple are backups for when traveling.)
I agree that the credit "no interest for x months" stuff is a bet, and there will be more losers than winners, i.e., "the house" always wins in the end. Just be smarter than average and it's Ok. And, it's not GC (or whomever) that's making these rules. They are in the job of moving refrigerators, microwave ovens, color tvs, and custom shop guitars. If they don't do that, they're out of business, so when the banks come along and offers some help in accomplishing that, they really don't have a choice if they want to
stay in business, i.e., don't blame GC.