What are debits and credits?
Debits and credits are the terms used to identify either an increase or decrease in an account. It depends on the type of account that you are talking about as to whether the increase or decrease is a Debit or a Credit. The first step in understanding debits and credits is to forget what your bank tells you. As they are looking at it from their point of view, when they tell you that they will “credit” your bank account (in other words, put money in your account) they are correct. However, to you it is a Debit. Here’s why.