Debit and
credit are just two very familiar, most often used terms in any accounting
matter. Such is being defined as two aspects of every financial transaction
(Wikipedia.com). Nevertheless if you are in highschool and have an Accounting
subject you have once tried to debit cash, credit furniture and fixtures per
se? Or you remembered being confused analyzing a given transaction and which of
it has to be written in the left side of the ledger (debit) and its right side
(credit). I did! I still do sometimes.
Today we give
honor to DEBIT. Debit as a term commonly
used in the bank. But going back a
little basic let's define debt which I assume as DEBIT's root word as something
owed. Such something could be in forms of money or goods or services. When I
say: “Kristine has a debt to Raphael due next month”. It is saying that
Kristine has a liability or obligation to pay or perform something (defined earlier) to Raphael.
Thus to
debit, (as per bank perspective) means to charge a person's account with a debt or simply to pay out from. One
would say: “I DEBITed your bank account in expense of the replacement of your
ATM card. This would mean I charge your account in payment of the new ATM card
(which is the debt) or I payout the charge from your account.
Another
scenario: “The ATM savings account can
also be used as DEBIT card”. It means that the ATM savings account can be used
as a means to pay out for something. This something could be purchases from the
department stores or some groceries you have to pay using your ATM savings
account through Express Payment System or EPS. (We'll talk more about the debit
card and EPS on my succeeding notes)
So remember,
when you hear the word debit, most especially in a bank scenario, it’s actually
taking money from you. A withdrawal through the ATM is a debit transaction. Be
careful with your DEBITS, you don't want to end up losing all your savings.
Right?
