Credit Card, PayPal or Cash App? How You Pay Matters

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airport lounges and fraud protection. A credit card can be expensive if you don’t pay your balance in full, and higher interest rates have now raised the cost of carrying a credit-card balance. Paying off a $1,000 balance in 12 months at the current average annual percentage rate of 22.16% means $103 in interest, compared with $77 roughly a year ago when the average was 16.65%, according to estimates from the Federal Reserve.

Debit cards don’t offer the same rewards as credit cards since their issuers make less money from each transaction. They do come with similar fraud and payment protections as credit cards. Federal regulations require issuers to reimburse customers for unauthorized transactions of more than $50 and allow customers to dispute charges within 30 days.

Many credit cards also provide purchase protection, meaning you can ask for reimbursements directly from your issuer if something you buy is lost, damaged or inconsistent with what was advertised. Few people make the most of their credit-card benefits, payments experts said. After finding most people don’t bother to read the fine print when they sign up for a new card, Mastercard is now notifying customers of benefits in real-time.

“If I have to read a big booklet or call a number to understand what my benefits are, I’m not doing it," said Chiro Aikat, executive vice president of U.S. market development at Mastercard. Digital wallets Digital wallets such as PayPal or Apple Pay are among the safest and easiest ways to pay online.