Settle a friendly debate...

So what's the debate?

Like mistake as opposed to what? What is the other person arguing?

I don't think that's a debate.

That's a question.

I'm just trying to figure out what you are asking.

"Settle a friendly debate" would be my friend thinks X and I think Y, which one is right.

So I'm trying to figure out what the two sides could be to this.

It was just a very odd way to phrase the title and the OP.

A credit can later be challenged (my card was stolen)  and a charge back made which is why it would be declined.

 A debit they can tell if the funds are there immediately and get paid. Having the customer get a charge back is much more difficult since the person swiping the card through the machine had to know the pin.

Dunno, but it happens all the time with my Wells Fargo card. Denied credit, approved debit or vice versa-denied debit but approved credit.

There is no rhyme or reason to it, Wells Fargo doesn't approve either one if there is no money there. It won't allow a credit purchase if the balance isn't going to cover it. It won't allow a debit purchase if the funds won't cover it. It just happens randomly.

I suspect it has more to do with the vendor than anything else. I don't know that for sure, but I am *just* cynical enough to think that there are probably vendor fees associated with one or the other and if they don't want to pay them, they set up their system to deny credit over debit (or vice versa.)

I don't know. I'm pretty upset about this debate.

I wonder if they will make a Netflix series about it? Serial season 3.

It happens all the time to me when I travel. They freeze my card because I never remember to call but I can run it as debut with no issue. Has nothing to do with money on my account. Had to do with their suspicion the card may be stolen.

I process many credit cards each month and can honestly say that the actual retailer or vendor you are paying has no idea why a debit or CC was declined, just that it was. If you expect them to be able to tell you why, all I can see is whether the card is declined because it is expired. Other than that, we have no idea why.

So it probably has to do with some strange algorithm by the credit card processor/banking system and MC/VISA/AmEx/Discover. People swear to me all the time there is money in the account or credit on the card, but it still declines. There is absolutely nothing I can do about it to make the CC company/bank let it go through. And it seems like they are declining more lately -- is it due to lack of funds? I have no clue!

Sometimes if the cashier makes a mistake, and tells the machine it's going to be debit but you select credit, there's a mismatch to the computer and it declines the transaction.

Yeah, the cards are different in the U.S. They can use the same card and have it either do debit or credit. In Canada, we have a separate card for each, which I actually prefer. Or maybe because I'm just used to it that way!

It's not that we have one card that can be a credit or a debit which ever we prefer. It's that the Debit card can be processed at the store so we either enter a PIN (debit) or we sign (credit.) The one card is linked to one checking account and even if you process it as a "credit" it does not actually behave like a credit card. You have to have the funds in your account to purchase and those funds will be removed from your account to pay for the transaction ASAP. I have a separate credit card with which I can borrow money if I choose.

As to the OP, there is a grocery store in our area that will decline credit processing and will only run cards as debit. Credit processing costs the store a higher percentage of the transaction, so the store saves money by not allowing them.