The basic 'credit' cards are Visa, Mastercard, and so on, the 'debit' cards are Switch and Maestro. the simple difference is - Credit cards debit the amount paid from a pre-determined spending limit at an advised future date. The balance owed is advised to you by post. If you pay your invoice in full by the due date, you enjoy free credit, but if you fail to clear the whole balance, interest is charged on the whole balance until it is all paid. Debit cards are electronically connected to your bank account, and the money is deducted almost instantaneously as the transaction is made. It's a cash-free method of shopping. That's the basic difference between the two. Debit cards are easy to use because if you go past your cash limit, the transaction is refused. Credit cards need care, because it is easy to fail to pay, and to forget that the interest is calcuated on the whol balance - if you owe �100, and pay �99 by the due date, the interest is not charge on the remianing �1, but on the entire �100, until that �1 is paid off. Hope this is clear enough.