Gift Card vs Credit Card
Gift card and Credit card are often mistaken to be one and the same. They are understood often as two cards that are used in the same way. Strictly speaking there are some differences between gift card and credit card.
Gift card is meant to be given to someone as a substitute for the real gift that you may want to give to the person. For example if you want to gift a books to your friend for a certain amount of dollars, then you may give him a gift card to the value of money that may be used in a book store nearby or at a particular place.
Credit card on the other hand is a card that is used to make purchases of objects such as grocery, clothes and other items on credit. It only means that you need not pay liquid cash at the time of purchasing the goods or the objects in the offline or the online shop but can pay by means of credit card. The company that has issued the card to you, generally a bank or a credit union, will take care of the payment of the bill of your purchase at the moment of purchase.
It is very important to note that you should pay the company that has issued the credit card at a later date. The money has to be duly settled with a nominal interest for the period of repayment. It is interesting to note that some interest will be charged on the money the company has paid to the outlet on your purchase after the expiry of a certain period of time. The time of repayment is usually 30 days from the date of purchase.
Interest will be charged on the amount at the expiry of the period of 30 days. On the other hand all you have to do is pay the amount well in advance at the offline bookshop and get the card for the amount prepaid at the shop. This card is called the gift card that may be given as a gift to your friend on his or her birthday or on any special occasions. This is in fact the main difference between gift card and credit card.
Another important difference between the use of gift card and credit card is that gift card can be used only in particular outlets or shops that are marked in the gift card but it cannot be used in the ATMs to withdraw cash. On the other hand a credit card can be used anywhere, most of the merchants nowadays accept credit cards. In short it can be said that a credit card can be used online, offline and at most of the outlet shops and of course in the ATMs to withdraw cash.