Nowadays, the enthusiasm for savings among the general public in China is growing increasingly high. According to data from the central bank, in the first half of 2024, the new household deposits amounted to 9.27 trillion yuan. However, for depositors, there is a choice to be made when saving money: is it better to deposit money on a bank card or a deposit certificate? In real life, most young people choose to deposit money on a bank card. In addition, many elderly people tend to choose deposit certificates.

So, some netizens have raised the question: is it better to deposit money on a bank card or a deposit certificate? In response, bank staff said: whether it is to deposit money on a bank card or a deposit certificate, each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Taking the bank card as an example, while bringing convenience and efficiency to customers, it also comes with a series of security risks and challenges. On the other hand, the deposit certificate, while pursuing stable returns and asset security, will also lose liquidity and opportunity costs.

Advertisement

There are three advantages of a bank card: First, it has convenience and immediacy. Users can easily deposit, withdraw, transfer, and inquire about funds through ATMs, mobile banking apps, online banking, and other channels. This not only brings great convenience to daily life but also improves the efficiency of fund use on the bank card. If you deposit money on a deposit certificate, it is basically locked, and the deposit cannot be withdrawn or transferred within the specified period.

Second, there are many consumption scenarios for bank cards now, bringing convenience to users' lives. Whether users are shopping online or consuming in physical stores, as long as users bind mobile payment tools to their bank cards, they can easily complete online or offline payments by scanning the QR code during shopping, which greatly improves the convenience of payment.

Third, bank cards are flexible in fund management. For example, users can not only transfer funds with bank cards but also deposit funds on the card into fixed deposits or purchase bank wealth management, funds, and other investment products, which can easily achieve wealth appreciation and diversified asset allocation. What's more, users can also use the automatic transfer function to pay for utilities such as water and electricity at home regularly, avoiding overdue fines due to forgetting and neglecting.

Of course, bank cards also have some shortcomings. For example, in daily life, people may accidentally lose or have their mobile phones stolen, and the bank card information bound may be at risk of leakage. At the same time, some users inadvertently disclose their bank card information, and some criminals use methods such as forging bank cards to swipe the funds on their bank cards. Therefore, from a security perspective, bank cards are not as safe as passbooks in protecting the safety of deposits.

There are also three advantages of passbooks: First, they can obtain stable interest income. Although the interest income of passbooks is lower than various financial products, the safety of deposits is stronger, and future income can be locked. Moreover, when the overall investment environment is poor, and the income of stocks, real estate, funds, and bank wealth management products is declining, and risks are increasing, holding a passbook is also a wise choice.

Second, holding a passbook can enforce savings and planning. If you encounter problems such as paying a down payment for a house in the future or children's education, you will need a sum of money to deal with it at that time. Now, you must force yourself to save some money every month for future use. And fixed deposits can lock the user's funds. This way, over time, it is easier to achieve the previously planned goals.Thirdly, the security of passbooks is guaranteed. If users deposit money with a passbook, they don't have to worry about the problem of unauthorized transactions due to the leakage of bank card information. Even if the passbook is lost or stolen, depositors don't have to worry too much and can report it to the bank in a timely manner. Moreover, even if someone gets hold of your passbook, they cannot withdraw cash from the bank without your identity documents and without knowing the passbook's password.

Of course, passbooks also have some disadvantages, mainly in two aspects: one is that the liquidity of passbooks is relatively poor. Once a user wants to withdraw the passbook in advance, they will have to calculate the interest rate of demand deposits, and the depositor is likely to suffer significant losses at that time. Another is the loss of opportunity cost of passbooks. For example, many depositors like to deposit fixed deposits for 3 or 5 years. However, after completing a 3 or 5-year fixed deposit, the depositor has effectively locked up the money. Even if there are good investment opportunities during this period, they can only choose to give up.

Is it better to deposit money in a bank card or a passbook? Bank staff said that each has its advantages and disadvantages. If you are part of the young population, for the needs of daily settlement consumption and diversified investment, it is still better to deposit money in a bank card. If you are part of the middle-aged and elderly population, you can choose to use a passbook, which has the advantages of high security and stable returns. In addition, if you want to deposit a sum of money now to cope with other expenditures, you can still choose a passbook, which can force users and depositors to complete planning.