They can also be used at automated teller machines for withdrawing cash from the user's checking account. Increasingly common in the 1990s as an alternative to credit cards , debit cards have been promoted as safer than cash and more convenient than personal checks. They are typically issued by large credit-card companies through their participating banks.
Debit cards offer the holder more limited legal protections than credit cards.
Similar cards have also been used to distribute welfare benefits to recipients in some locales. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. Search and view business and economics texts from leading publishers.