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What are Debit Credit Cards? Debit Credit Cards are plastic cards with a plastic strip that are used as an alternative method of payment to cash while making purchases. They are linked to the cardholder’s account directly. They help reduce the need for carrying cash. When a card holder uses the debit credit card for making a payment or withdraws money from an ATM, the balance from his/her account is automatically reduced. Certain cards are designed exclusively for use on the internet. Hence there is no physical card. The use of debit credit cards is growing worldwide and has overtaken the check and cash transactions by great volume. Debit cards are used for telephone and internet purchases, much like the credit card, excepting the fact that in a debit credit card the funds are transferred from bearer’s account instead of the cardholder repaying on a later date.



There are different types of debit credit cards such as the ones mentioned below - Online Debit Card: These debit cards require electronic authorization of all the transactions. The debits are reduced from the user’s account immediately. The transaction is made secure with the personal identification number (PIN) authentication system. Such authentication is required by some online cards for every transaction. Due to the superior status of these debit cards, several banks Canada issue only online debit card.

Offline Debit Card: Offline debit cards have the logos of major debit cards and can be used at the point of sale. This type of debit card may have a daily limit or maximum limit equal to the balance in the account to which it is linked.
Prepaid Debit Card: Prepaid debit cards are often used for recurring payments. They are also known as reloadable debit cards or reloadable prepaid cards. Funds are loaded by the payer to the cardholder’s account
Electronic Purse Card: These cards used a card chip that stored the details of the card. It was a smart card based electronic system. Hence the cards did not require any connectivity at the point of sale. They were used in Europe from 1990s.

The debit credit card has a lot of advantage over the credit card. A consumer may find it difficult to obtain a credit card if he is not credit worthy. He can easily obtain a debit card. Its use is limited to the funds existing in the account, hence preventing the consumer from accumulating debt, or being charged interest. Debit credit cards are accepted by merchants without much identity checks. Debit cards can be obtained with no extra charges or unwanted fees and interests unlike the credit card.
But debit cards have their own set of problems. They have lesser fraud protection facilities as compared to credit cards. Some transactions, especially some overseas ones, cannot be carried out using a debit credit card. In case of an emergency where you need funds more than your account balance, a debit card will not be enough.



In Canada, the debit card is also referred to as “bank card". Canadians are the undisputed world leaders in debit card use with a 71.7 transactions per person. But the average value of a debit transaction was lower as compared to 11 other countries, showing that Canadians use their debit credit cards frequently, even for low-cost purchases. What are debit credit cards?