your takeaway is that they deserve to be alone?

I guess.

Have some fucking empathy

Wouldn’t that be a waste of empathy when we could partake in schadenfreude?

If credit cards users pay higher prices than non-users, checking accounts are secure from erroneous/unauthorized transactions, and transfers are instant, then the use case for credit cards is less clear.

If they don’t cost you any more, then those are the once which are expensive on the stores you buy from.

That changes the trade-offs a bit. I missed the assumption that credit card users pay the same prices (& no extra fees) as everyone else: processing fees are typically paid by the vendor who includes it in prices everyone pays regardless of credit card.

In the US, credit card users basically get short-term, interest-free loans subsidized by the hidden costs in processing fees everyone is paying. Since consumers in the US mostly can’t avoid the hidden costs, they don’t benefit as much by avoiding credit cards as consumers in other places where consumers can avoid those fees by not using credit cards.

It doesn’t help that those credit cards compensate (poorly) for deficiencies in our financial system as I’ll explain.

A normal bank card is way harder to even get into a situation where you need to open a dispute

Maybe yours. Here, online payments only need some numbers on the debit card & your name & billing address.

Unauthorised debits are such a rare thing

All it takes here is debit card information or an (e-)check. A check openly shows your routing number & bank account number & states to pay from there. Low barriers to fraud.

most credit card companies do not care about you getting scammed either btw because you authorised the transaction

Different here: by law no one who disputes a charge within 60 days is obligated to pay it until the dispute is resolved (within 90 days). It’s usually charged back immediately. Due to weak security, authorization is easier to dispute, and they won’t simply assume it.

Transfers between accounts are instant these days

Maybe in more civilized parts of the world. In the US, transfers & payments between financial institutions usually take business days to settle. Real-time payment is still uncommon there.

You also mean unauthorised credits

I agree that makes more sense in accounting. It’s often stated as I did with bank accounts & I gave up trying to figure that out.

I could lock the money for a year to get like 2.9% interest instead of the 1.2%.

My regular & emergency savings go in an account like this with 4.3 APY, and that’s “instantly” (as fast as a checking account) accessible. The slow settlement times, security risks, and “free” credit cards may offer some insights into our haphazard financial landscape & stopgap “solutions”. The stronger use case for credit cards here is a byproduct of this broken system.

they are still more expensive and if you use some kind of bookkeeping or budgeting software

Not in the slightest (cost me 0), and I do.

cashback

Not the main selling point.

insurance part

That is a good use case: charges easier to dispute & reverse. Fraudulent credit card charges don’t disrupt your available funds.

A normal bank card spends your real money. Disputing through a bank may take longer. Until the bank returns money to your account, that money is gone: fraudulent charges to your bank account disrupt your available funds.

technical benefit

That’s a use case for me: risk mitigation & flexibility to optimize returns on my savings.

Assumptions

• my checking account earns diddly squat interest & risk of unauthorized debits is meaningful (eg, debit cards or ye olde timey checks)
• other accounts of varying liquidity (such as emergency savings, taxed investment, retirement, etc.) earn better
• transferring between accounts (or selling less liquid assets) takes time
• I budget correctly to always spend within my means, so I know enough money is somewhere.

Constantly transferring between accounts for every single transaction is inconvenient. Leaving money in the checking account isn’t ideal due to low interest earnings & risk of unauthorized debits.

Solution

• as much as possible, keep checking account near 0 & keep most money where it earns better returns
• charge expenses to a credit card (at most 30% of its credit limit), then transfer to checking account the total to completely pay off the credit card when convenient well before payment due date.

The credit card is simply an instrument to allow me time & flexibility to move money I already have to pay expenses. The money is usually earning kickass interest (at least enough to beat inflation) somewhere and takes a non-instant amount of time to transfer.

Always completely pay off a credit card by the payment due date. A credit card is a shitty account to carry a debt (any non-0 balance past the due date): only dumbasses do that.

will hurt your credt score

If it works like in the US, then as long as you make mortgage & all other bill payments on time, completely pay off credit cards by payment due dates, and keep credit utilization low (at most 30% of card’s credit limit), you should be fine.

Starting a mortgage temporarily lowers your credit score until it recovers with consistent repayments over a few months. Then the added credit mix usually improves credit scores.

Are mortgages not paid there in regular installments with due amounts like in the US?

the average joe

You don’t have an account (maybe savings) that earns better interest? You’re not saving for emergencies, retirement, or goals?

the responsibility of the credit card

It’s usually just slack time (until payment due date) to make a payment you would already make some other way.

Wouldn’t you use PayPal as a digital wallet for you credit cards & reverse fraudulent charges through your credit card company?

Now if you link an actual bank account to PayPal, pay with that bank account, and get scammed, then that’s your actual money spent, and no shit that’s harder to reverse. You’d probably have to refer to your bank, and they may not do it.

Only if you’re bad with finances & don’t understand their use cases.