Originally Posted by
ckpeter
Any particular reason why you are looking for debit cards instead of credit cards?
Most debit cards that earn miles will only do so when you are doing a credt/signature based transaction, not when you use your PIN. Seems like the security with a credit card makes it safer to use than a debit card, not to mention that the reward options for credit cards are much more plentiful than debit cards.
I can think of a few reasons
*unable to get credit due to new credit history (new immigrant for example), or credit issue in the past
*no desire to get additional credit due to potential negative effects on credit score and therefore existing credit obligations (mortgage rates etc)
* Cheap miles (the current AA - $25 annual fee for 10,000 AA miles is a cheap way of getting miles - after a year you just switch to the free debit card with ThankYou Points)
For the airlines that offer 1:1 debit cards (AA, CO, NW) there is no difference in the fees between credit and debit cards so if you pay off your whole balance every month there isn't much of a difference - sure you don't get the same insurance etc you do with the CC, but you have no (positive or negative) effect on your credit score.
For the 2:1 cards they aren't as good as credit cards in terms of earning but it is a small amount of money in fees and may meet specific needs as well as being a viable option for people with credit issues.
Clearly there is a market for these cards since the number seem to be increasing so they obviously are seen as useful to someone out there.