GREENSBORO, N.C. — There are three places I never use my debit card: the gas station, restaurants unless I can watch my card being swiped, and anytime I shop online. Instead, I use my credit card. Before you say -- you use your debit as a credit card, let's clear up common misconceptions.
When you use your debit card as a credit card, it sounds like there's a difference, but there's not. A debit card run as credit is still debit and comes out of your bank account.
A debit card doesn't have the same protections as a regular credit card.
For example, a disputed charge on a credit card doesn't cost you any real money, but with a debit card, the money is out of your account until the refund goes through.
Just keep in mind, when you use your debit card as a credit card at places like a gas station, there might be a temporary hold on your account for more than the purchase price.
That hold on your card from the gas station can be up to a hundred dollars. Also, if you don't have that in your bank account and you pay with a debit card, that can cause issues.
If you have no credit card-- here's how to get around the hold.
“If you pay with a credit card, debit card, or obviously with cash, if you go inside and set the amount ahead of time, then there's not going to be a hold. You can avoid that by saying, 'I want to put $20 on pump 2,' it doesn't count for those types of charges,” Nathan Grant of Credit Card Insider SAID.