In message , at 17:28:38 on Sun, 4
Mar 2012, Graham Nye remarked:
As a result, there's an aura of literally "poor man's card" hanging over
all debit cards.

Eh? This might be true for Solo/Electron cards (which never seemed to
be accepted by everyone), though I don't have any experience with one.
I do have a couple of debit cards, replacing cheque guarantee and ATM
cards on my current accounts (US:checking accounts)[1], but I've never
noticed any form of poor man's aura about them.

[1] As do tens of millions of other UK current account holders.

ATM cards are OK, but I'm sure Debit cards have a flavour of "I'm not
creditworthy enough to have a Credit Card".

A lot of credit card holders use them in effect as charge cards, as a
substitute for the "monthly credit" that the middle classes used to get
from tradesmen.

Before my time but, given the interest rates on credit cards, how else
would you use them if you are in a position to clear the debt on them
each month?

It's a cashflow issue. My main reason for using credit cards is because
I'm paying for travelling expenses that will get billed to a client.
These are often of the order of magnitude of monthly wages. If one's
business has a positive cash flow, perhaps it can be avoided, but that
seems to be a luxury these days.

(And, although this might be an old-fashioned view, if you're not in a
position to clear the debt you ought not run it up in the first place.)

Of you are re-billing it to a client, you can "afford" it, but maybe
only next month when they pay their bill.

Mind you, having your grocer deliver your shopping is back in fashion.

It is indeed. But not on a bicycle.
--
Roland Perry