Purchase Protection

When you use a credit card to make a purchase, the card offers certain protections. If the item you bought is defective or you've been billed incorrectly, you may be able to dispute the charge. While you're negotiating with the merchant to resolve the problem and the credit card company is investigating the situation, you don't have to pay the disputed part of the bill.

But debit cards offer no such protections. Because they act like cash, you can't hold up payment to a merchant if you're having a problem -- the money is transferred from your account within one to two days, if not instantly, when the transaction is put through. So by the time you realize the product is broken or has a defect, the merchant has already been paid.