There are several federal mandates to protect you when you use your credit card. For example, if you are charged twice for the same item or are billed for items you never received or already returned and paid by credit card, you can dispute those charges. Also, if your card is lost or stolen, your losses may be limited to $50 as long as you notify your issuer promptly.
There may be some consumer protections with debit cards, but when money is debited from your bank account it’s just gone and it may take time to resolve the issue.
“You’re almost certainly going to get money back with a debit card,” said Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at Lending Tree. “But there may be a short window where if there is a bill that comes due, there’s no money in that account.
