A gift card is something that anyone, of any age, can buy. This card works only at the certain business it is for. Such as a Burger King gift card, you can only use that card at Burger King. A checking account debit card is a card you can use in any situation, as long as they have the proper equipment. This card extracts money from your banking account, whereas the gift card has a set amount of money on it. Also, a checking account debit card is only given to people 18 and over, since signing a check is technically signing a contract, and using a debit card goes along the same lines as signing a check.Â