Awesome article. Kudos for sticking to your guns, and I hope your revenues skyrocket, even though credit cards are the worst financial decision anyone could ever make. I'd rather YOU make money on their bad decisions than Chase or Citi.
Beyond the fact that you can use credit cards to your financial benefit, simply getting the card has no consequences whatsoever. (Unless you buy into the 'you must keep a balance to maintain good credit' myth.)
This, of course, contrasts with something like a condom, where, if you are going to have sex (unlike driving, or purchasing on credit) - you are going to do it, regardless of whether you have the license/plastic (no pun intended) - so you may as well do it safely.
It's very difficult (impossible?) to go into debt to a credit card company, if you don't have a credit card. Likewise the vast, vast majority of people who don't have Drivers Licenses (by choice, as opposed to having them taken away) - tend not to cause fatal accidents.
Drivers licenses don't make people drive poorly nor do credit cards make people make poor financial decisions. If you're going to convolute the two through some form of causality, the argument you could make is that people who are apt to make poor financial decisions are more apt to pile up credit cards.
Your claim that getting a drivers license is the "worst safety decision a modern human can make" is pure hyperbole. What about not putting on a seatbelt? What about not checking their tires and brakes regularly? What about failing to adjust their mirrors? Those are the actions that reduce safety, not getting the license, much like buying that HDTV you cannot afford reduces financial standing, not getting the credit card.
If you take a representative sample of people who do what you suggest (seat belts, mirrors, tires, breaks) versus a sample of people that I offer (people who just don't drive - I.E. Walk) - I guarantee you there will be far fewer fatalities and injuries in my group, particularly in the 15-44 age range.
This ties _directly_ with credit cards - in that if you take a sample of people who do what you suggest (use credit cards properly/responsibly) versus a sample of people who do what I suggest (just don't get a credit card) - I believe my group will be better off financially.
To be truly scientific - we need to do a randomized trial - take a good sized group - and bucked them into two trials for 20 years - one group without cars, one group with. Another group with credit cards, another group without.
I'm confident that the non-car driving, non-credit card using group will experience fewer fatalities and be financially stronger.
I'm not arguing that you _shouldn't_ use a seatbelt, and that it doesn't help you (it does!) - I'm arguing that once you've started driving/riding, you've already increased your chance of fatality in a way that wearing a seatbelt can't reduce.
I'm not sure where bus-riding fits for safety. Anyone got numbers?
While this sucks for the system as a whole, on an individual level it does mean that those of us who have a reliable income (or FU money) can use credit cards very differently. They provide convenience, consumer protection, usually some kind of 'reward' (travel points or such), and yes, a 30 day grace period in which you can do something else with your money though I usually don't think of it that way. In fact, from an individual standpoint the only reason I can think of to use a debit card rather than credit here is a complete lack of financial responsibility/will power.
And getting card actually can be a bad financial decision as too many cards can negatively affect a credit score.
The problem with debt-financed purchasing is that while it expands short-term options if not managed properly it can severely limit long-term options.
I pay my card off multiple times per month. They don't get a chance to charge me interest.
(Just checked and I have $300 worth of points waiting to be spent on travel. That's my upcoming Boston trip covered.)
The fact that not having a credit card damages your credit score should be enough to make even semi-intelligent people realize that credit score is not a fair and equitable measure of one's ability to pay on time.
I prefer carrying around credit cards compared to cash, it's more convenient and I don't have to worry about whether I have enough cash on hand when I need to make a large purchase.
I feel safer using a credit card compared to my ATM card due to the chargeback and fraud protection provided by the credit card company. There's less money "at risk" if someone steals my credit card or skims my cc number (which has happened to me at a restaurant before - I paid with a credit card and the guy wrote down the number while handling my bill. A week later he attempted to use it at Best Buy to buy a laptop, which was caught by my credit card company's fraud department.).
I earn frequent flyer miles by spending with my credit card, which (combined with signup bonuses) earns me several free plane tickets every year. Since I fly semi-frequently this is a major cost savings for me.
I pay off my credit card balance in full every month, never incurring interest. In doing so, I show a consistent payment history and build my credit score. I don't particularly need it right now, but if I ever need to take out a mortgage, finance a car, or take out any other kind of loan, having a high credit score will benefit me in the long run.
I literally cannot think of a reason why this is a bad idea, or why anyone would consider this a bad financial decision.
Edit: Oh, and I forgot to mention that the law is on my side with charge backs and I'm not liable for fraud.
The real problem is that everyone pays this price, and it leads to price inflation even if you pay cash (yes, dealing with cash transactions has a price for the merchant as well, but that one's already built into their costs). The laws should be changed so that merchants are allowed to charge more for CC transactions. I don't understand why the government has allowed the CC industry to forbid that (seems to work for gas stations).
What's that, we all should just use debit cards instead? Hmm, I thought debit cards used the VISA or MasterCard networks?