I have never been in favor of credits cards myself and I tell everyone to avoid getting one as much as I can. It's just a well that keeps going deeper and pull you into more debt.
With a debit card, somebody who gets ahold of the details might be able to drain the account that its linked to, but with my credit cards I have fairly low credit limits (like $5K) and I have absolutely no liability for fraudulent transactions so I'd not have to pay for them if my card details were stolen (luckily I've never had that happen so far).
I don't have a corporate card for my job, so I use my personal one for travelling and things like that. With the credit card I don't have to use any of my own money - work reimburses the expenses within two weeks, which is well within the interest free period of thirty days.
The rewards are pretty good - my Amex gives me frequent flyer points so I prefer that to having a corporate card. I book my own flights, hotel, etc. when I travel for work and charge it to the card instead of getting a travel agent to do (they would invoice the company) so I get the rewards.
Finally, you get a bit of a spread if you already have the money but use the credit card and take advantage of its interest free period. If I'm making a large purchase, that might be 30 extra days that money is in my savings account earning interest. Probably doesn't add up to much at the current savings rates (2.8% on my best account) but it's something!
Obviously you have to always pay the card off in full at the end of the month!
However, I'm not completely against debt. I think debt can be managed and healthy under the right circumstances, and as long as it's used for stuff that you need and not stuff you want. If you truly need the stuff, the time and other purchases the debt gave you (such as a student loan to get a degree for your job, or a mortgage to live close your job) will pay for themselves.
I have various credit cards and all of them are set up to automatically pay themselves off on the statement due date. I've not paid a cent in credit card interest in my life.
That's a false premise: it's cheaper to pay for something on 0% credit while the same money gathers interest than it is to buy it outright. It also ignores opportunity cost and could be applied to every form of credit from mortgages to business investment and government bonds.
http://time.com/money/4213757/average-american-credit-card-d...
> Only 35% of credit card users don't carry a balance--they pay off their bill every month, like you're supposed to.
That said, even 35% is more than a third of the population, which should be more than enough reason to suggest you shouldn't be telling everyone you meet not to get a credit card. The consumer protection is far greater, and it's far less risky than carrying a debit card. (I would be surprised if anyone here didn't know these already, but then I'm surprised at the advice being given.)
1. Users are encouraged not to care about the security as they are insured - which means spending in dodgy online stores.
2. Magnetic stripe technology is terribly insecure.
Combine the both and you end up Americans being prime target of fraud, constantly (rightfully) scared of Eastern European fraudsters. Meanwhile people here in Europe never ever worried about it.
1. "According to the EFTA, your potential liability for fraudulent debit card transactions is virtually unlimited. Under the FCBA, your maximum liability for fraudulent credit card transactions is $50." [1]
2. "The real difference between a debit card and a credit card when it comes to fraud is in how you get your money back. When a fraudulent transaction occurs on your credit card, you have lost no money. You can report the fraud, get a credit on your statement, and the issue will never affect your bank account. With a debit card, your bank account balance is affected from the moment the fraudulent transaction takes place. If the transactions are significant, you could experience a domino effect of financial headaches. Fraudulent charges can tie up funds so that legitimate charges are declined or cause overdrafts." [1]
3. Individual credit cards have other protections for your purchases, e.g. Citi has Price Rewind and Extended Warranty for your purchases. I haven't seen these with debit cards, and I'd be happy to hear if you know of any that do have these features. But it's icing on the cake anyway; the above are far more important.
4. A number of credit cards allow generating temporary card numbers with limited amounts or expiration dates for online purchases. I use this all the time. Again, I haven't seen any debit cards that allow this.
[1] https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/credit-cards/credit-card-vs-...
2 definitely makes sense.
1 probably varies by jurisdiction, of course.