<prompt> Human: Hello people, I do academic research in consumer finance and often read scientific articles that in some way or another include data on credit or debit card use. As I have never been to the US and I believe that these two types of cards are used differently in Germany than in the US, I would like to ask you US- Americans to provide me with some insights into the practical implications of credit vs debit card use. Specifically, could you please refer to some or all, if you want to do me a favor of the following questions: Besides cash, what is your primary source of payment, debit or credit card? What advantages and disadvantages do you see in the two systems? Is one particular type more suitable for certain types of payments, say internet transactions? Do social factors play a role, e.g. are you stigmatized as poor when you use a debit card? Which type of card bears higher monetary costs and does that affect your choice? The purpose of all this is just to give an outsider an idea of what debit and credit card usage means in daily life, something which you cannot really distill from wikipedia or academic texts on the matter. Thanks in advance EDIT: Thanks for the many replies. To sum up the most frequently posted infos so far: Credit Card use entitles you to payback bonuses or other reward programs which makes it more attractive. To my knowledge this is practically non-existent in Germany. Credit Card use requires you to pay the bills in time, which seems to be a non-trivial task. Follow-up question: Is there no way to have this done automatically? I am not sure how you guys call liquid, low interest-bearing savings accounts. Maybe call money accounts or money market accounts? Can you not keep, say, 1-5 monthly incomes in such an account and just have your monthly credit card bill directed to it? There seems to be no stigma attached to either one of the cards.  <response>: I basically agree with everyone else in how I use cards. But keep in mind, the way the average rpersonalfinance reader uses them is probably different than how the average person in the US uses them. 