Business and Personal Finance Dictionary

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• DEBIT
  
  A debit is the opposite of a credit. For example, a debit can be an account balance representing money you owe a lender, or it can be the amount you owe your broker for securities you have bought on margin. A debit card differs from a credit card, since it allows you to take money out of your bank account electronically, either as cash or as an on-the-spot payment to a merchant, rather than borrowing the money from the card issuer.
  
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