Final answer:
A debit card deducts the cost of a purchase directly from your bank account and credits it to the seller, serving as an immediate money transfer. This differs from a credit card, which is a short-term loan from the credit card company to the user.
Step-by-step explanation:
An electronic transaction that deducts the cost of a purchase from your account and credits it to the seller's account is typically completed using a debit card. A debit card operates like a check and is an instruction to the user's bank to transfer money directly and immediately from the user's bank account to the seller's account. Debit cards are linked to your available funds, making them different from credit cards which offer a short-term loan from the credit card company to the user.
Whereas using a credit card means that the credit card company is transferring money from its account to the seller, representing a loan that the cardholder is responsible for paying back, typically by the end of the month. On the other hand, using a debit card is transferring your own funds from your bank account to make the payment.