Bored of moving around with heavy wallets or hard cash? Don’t want to fall into the trap of credit cards and get accustomed to loans, interest on purchases and monthly bills? Take pride in spending within limits and keeping a check on your earnings? Here’s a sure-shot solution – debit cards, a prepaid card which uses the money from the bank account linked to your debit card for your purchases. Debit card is one of the most transparent and uncomplicated means of carrying out your purchases without exceeding your available balance. The money for your purchase is instantly drawn out of your bank account to enable immediate payment to the merchant.
Debit cards provided by banks usually have a MasterCard or VISA logo on the card. This denotes that the debit cards are entertained at all those places at which any one of the above is accepted. At places where debit cards aren’t entertained, you are provided with the option to withdraw cash from any of your bank’s ATM. But banks usually set a limit on the amount that can be withdrawn within a day. In case you don’t find any ATM of your bank nearby, you can use the facility at an ATM of another bank at a little extra charge. Debit card holders are also provided with the facility to use their bank account to transfer money online to any person with a valid bank account. Banks provide you with a customer ID and a corresponding password or PIN to carry out such transactions. What’s more, you can transfer money to more than one person at the same time.
Another option with debit cards is the virtual or online debit card which aims to minimize the numerous illegal money swindling activities online by means of theft and enable you to make safe payments online. Some of the online debit cards available include gift cards, student cards, shopper’s cards, etc which are pre-loaded and can be used to make your shopping experience secure and hassle-free.
Though debit cards do provide you with a great number of facilities, you should not look at using them exhaustively for every purchase. There are certain places like fuel stations and restaurants where your card is vulnerable for misuse. Since the protection offered on debit cards is lesser as compared to credit cards, you may have to pay through cash or cheque to be absolutely certain about no misuse of your debit card.
