Those protections are the main reason it’s recommend to use credit cards instead.
But it doesn’t make sense to me, why would I borrow money (credit) if I had it (debit)?
My guess is that banks deliberately do this so people can accidentally spend more money than they have and companies start charging interest.
In: Economics
In the United States, the protections are spelled out in laws that were passed at different times about different subjects. The protections afforded to debit cards were not designed for debit cards, though. There isn’t a big incentive in Congress to change the laws to harmonize them.
Note that banks can offer more protections than the law requires, and many do. What you’ve heard about debit-vs-credit cards is based on the law, and it doesn’t apply to every bank/issuer. Some banks are very generous with their debit card protections.
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