One can dispute credit card charges and not be responsible for more than $50 (IIRC). Debit cards have no such protections (in addition to leaving you vulnerable to having your bank account drained, as mentioned above).

CFPB.gov:

What is the difference between a debit card and a prepaid debit card?
UPDATED 5/22/2013

Even though it’s called a debit card, a prepaid debit card is very different from a bank account debit card. A bank account debit card is linked to your checking account; a prepaid debit card is not. Instead, you pay in advance to load funds onto a prepaid card, and then use the money you have loaded onto the card.

In most cases, you can’t spend more money than you have already loaded onto your prepaid debit card, but with bank account debit cards, if you opt into your bank’s overdraft service, the bank may cover the cost of a purchase that exceeds what you have in your account, and charge you a fee (as well as requiring you to repay the overdraft.)

In addition, prepaid debit cards may carry fewer consumer protections in the event of loss or a disputed charge than debit cards.

Credit cards are great for people who pay them off every month (assuming one doesn't pay an annual fee). For people who are struggling, there's the choice of paying 20+% annual interest rates or using a debit card with fees and fewer protections.

Until the CFPB came into being, banks would often clear checks not by date but by ways that were guaranteed to generate more $35 returned check or "overdraft protection" fees. E.g. If you were $1 off in your subtraction of your balance, they'd bounce your $2 coffee debit card payment, charge you $35, then bounce your $40 phone bill, charge you $35, then bounce your $100 cable bill, then ..., then bounce your $1000 rent check, charge you $35, etc., etc.

US banks make it extremely hard for poor people to keep their money.

It's a racket.

And the latest federal budget "agreement" proposes to remove some of the Dodd-Frank restrictions on the big banks.

Grrr...

Cheers,
Scott.