Article: Debit Cards Seen as No Threat to Credit Card Revenues.(Brief Article)

Warren G. Heller knows plastic. Without resorting to notes, Mr. Heller, research director at Veribanc Inc., a Wakefield, Mass., bank rating service, can say how much bad debt credit-card issuers charged off in 1999 $9.5 billion. He has a more difficult time figuring out why anyone would use a debit card instead of a credit card. "What is in it for the user?" Mr. Heller asked. "They are losing the 'float,'" that makes credit cards attractive. Experts like Mr. Heller may scratch their heads, wondering why people use them, but they do not dispute that the debit card's popularity is growing. Increasingly, Americans are pulling out this credit card look-alike instead of paying ...

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