Debit or credit?

Many of you are probably already aware of some banking procedures that became active in recent years. Besides banks offering debit cards from big bank concerns such as Visa or MasterCard, they still offer regular ATM cards. Now, I can't see any point in having an ATM card when a debit card will do the same thing but is useful for other things such as buying online. I like my debit card and rarely write a check anymore. My banker told me that the debit card is actually more secure than paper checks.

However, not everyone accepts debit cards so I do occasionally write a check. I write them for my rent and my water bill, and have used a check for my electric bill from time to time. With the rent and water bill, the check is processed the usual, old fashioned way. But for the electric bill, the place where I pay it uses electronic check processing, which means the money is deducted immediately from my account. No, there's no "floating" anymore where checks are concerned for most places.

So, why don't I just use my debit card to pay the electric bill? Beats me! I think I just now realized that's what I should be doing!