The value of GRF using credit cards over debit cards

PRESIDENT'S COLUMN

by Janet Isom

GRF President

There is great debate on social media and in our community about the value of using GRF credit cards. As this is a controversial topic, it will be addressed in a multi-part series of articles. The next article will include a more detailed explanation of how we categorize credit card charges in our accounting software. Also covered will be who is authorized to use and approve purchases made on a GRF credit card.

A key question to be addressed today is: Why does GRF use credit cards at all instead of the debit card used in the past? As you might already know, there are excellent benefits offered to GRF with the use of a credit card vs. a debit card, such as: 1. Better Purchase Protection: credit card purchases provide more protection for the buyer, in case the order is not received, is not correct or the item or service is misrepresented.

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2. Fraud Prevention and Protection: With credit card fraud, the card issuer must fight to get its money back after GRF reports the transactions. With debit card fraud, GRF must fight to get our money back.

3. Most vendors prefer credit cards, as they can receive payment within 1-2 business days, rather than waiting on a check to clear.

4. There is a financial benefit to using credit cards, as it allows GRF to ride “the float” from the time when we make the purchase to when we actually pay the entire bill. During that time frame, we can continue to earn interest on the funds instead of taking the funds directly out of our checking account at the time of purchase, as with a debit card.