# Prepaid, debit or credit cards - the main differences Before launching a **[card issuing](https://www.verestro.com/card-issuing) program**, our customers consider which **card product** to use. In this article we will summarize the key differences and considerations. There are three main groups of **payment cards**: pre-paid, debit and credit cards. Below we summarize **the most important differences**. #### **Prepaid cards** - user has to reload a card account to use a card (like in debit cards by the way) - you can issue anonymous, non-reloadable gift cards - in some cases merchants block BINs of prepaid cards more often than for debit or credit cards - you can have consumer and business prepaid cards - in many countries, from legal perspective, there is no difference between prepaid and debit cards #### **Debit cards** This is the biggest group of cards in the world: - user has to have a payment account or current account connected with a card - user has to go through a **KYC** (Know Your Customer) process - user has to reload a payment account to use card - usually you cannot issue anonymous cards, because in general they are always reloadable - sometimes, if you give a loan to your customer, a debit card can work like a credit card - you can have consumer or business debit cards - you can have Gold or Platinum debit cards #### **Credit cards** - user applies for credit and gets it in the form of a card - usually connected with a revolving credit (something like credit line) and a grace period (no interest for 40-50 days) - because of the credit, the user needs to go through KYC and credit scoring, so it is more difficult to issue than prepaid or debit cards - you can have Gold, Platinum or World Elite credit cards - you can have consumer or business credit cards - usually an interchange fee is a bit higher than in case of debit cards - sometimes approval rates for transactions are higher, some merchants (car rental) require credit cards from their customers - because credit line is connected with this product, usually it is more profitable than a prepaid or debit portfolio These are the main differences between the above mentioned products. In most cases, you should be thinking about **debit cards** because they give you the same benefits as **prepaid** ones, and you can convert them into **credit cards** by giving loans to your customers.