Pushed by the banks for years, debit cards have become a popular way to pay for everything from gas to groceries using money from your checking account.

However, money expert Clark Howard doesn’t like them at all and says they’re “piece of trash fake Visa and fake Mastercards.”

2 reasons why Clark hates debit cards

This might seem a little confusing, since you’ve probably heard other people sing the praises about these plastic cards, but Clark’s argument can be summed up with just two main points…

1. Debit cards are inferior to credit cards

A lot of people use debit cards to keep themselves from overspending and going into credit card debt, which is fair enough. But the problem is that debit cards are full of hidden dangers.

Think about it this way: If someone steals your debit card, which is linked to your checking account, they could easily wipe out your entire balance in a matter of minutes. On the other hand, if someone makes fraudulent charges on your credit card, no money actually leaves your hands.

Another security concern is that debit cards aren’t typically protected the same way as credit cards.

“A debit card doesn’t have the protections of a credit card,” Clark says. “If your debit card is compromised, your rights under federal law are vastly inferior to your rights with a credit card.”

2. Debit cards are inferior to cash

Banks will encourage you to use your debit card to buy things all over town, but would you be spending so freely if you were using cash? Don’t underestimate the psychological effect.

Once you spend the cash in your wallet, it’s gone. However, you can use the same debit card over and over again.

“There’s a sense of finite-ness with physical cash that you don’t have with a piece of plastic,” Clark says. “If you know that you haven’t been able to discipline yourself, nothing beats cash.”

So if you're living paycheck to paycheck, ditch plastic (credit and debit) and use cash to pay for whatever you can. It might seem like a throwback to a different era, but this low-tech method really works.