That was sound advice in 1999, but today most banks cover any fraud liability 100%. What you should really do is make certain that your debit card has full liability protection.
On a related note, when you are asked debit or credit; always select credit. A debit transation is paid for by you (not much . . . usually less than 15 cents), wheras a credit transation is paid for by the vendor.
Fez, I'm not trying to pick on you, but this is just incorrect. A bounced mortgage payment would only be reported to a Credit Reporting Agency if the payment is more than 30 days late. A "bounced" payment is not reported.
Secondly, considering how poorly most people manage credit cards, I would hesitate to recommend using credit cards simply because they are available to you.