Why do debit cards have a PIN if they just give you the option to bypass?

Question

(USA)

In: 4

Answer 1

Well if you bypass the pin it is run as a credit card transaction as opposed to a debit transaction. The difference being that a debit transaction is deducted from your account immediately while it could take up to 3 days typically with a credit transaction. What difference does it make? Well if you are poor it makes a big difference. Imagine being out of gas and only having enough money to eat 1 meal that day and you get paid tomorrow. You can do the credit transaction and won’t overdraft your account because it buys you enough time to get your paycheck first.