Credit cards are convenient in paying online, charging such high transaction fees that they kickback some to you to get your business (probably a wash with vendors charging more), different insurance programs on purchases including rental cars and travel, virtual credit card numbers for added online security… But they are not something you want to carry a balance on as the interest rate is usually pretty high (I pay mine off once or twice a month so I pay zero interest). So this survey that less than half of Americans use a credit card is very interesting. Currently, the credit card debt is $1.2 trillion, so have many lost their cards due to poor financial management and charge offs already? Surveys also show that more than half the population is living paycheck to paycheck, so this would kind of fit that they’ve lost their credit cards and have poor credit affecting car and home purchases. Consequently, this isn’t a good sign for the financial health of the country with inflation and expenses rising, with a major financial crash inbound. I’d say you probably want to extract yourself from large urban areas as crime and theft are going to get progressively worse as people become even more desperate trying to survive.
https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/less-half-americans-use-credit-card
by Tyler Durden
In Brazil, it is common for shoppers to use a card that works both as a debit card and a credit card, with most credit cards also accepting the option to pay in installments.
Data by a Statista Consumer Insights survey shows that a high 72 percent of online respondents aged between 18 and 64 years old said that they owned a credit card in 2024.
As Statista’s Anna Fleck shows in the chart below, credit card ownership is also high in Canada, at 68 percent.
Surveys on the topic have found that one of the top reasons Canadians carry credit cards is for their rewards programs. Canada is considered to have one of the highest credit card penetration densities of the world, with many Canadians owning either one or two of the payment cards.
It is one of the few countries with more credit cards than debit cards.
In the U.S., 49 percent of respondents said they owned a credit card last year, versus 42 percent in China and just 38 percent in the Netherlands.