I was like Golden Graham for years. But I needed a personal credit card for business travel. Now that so many stores have the swipe at checkout feature I don't use much cash. I love it. Since I'm a debt averse person, I pay it off fully every month. I don't understand the concept of "Get in trouble with a credit card" but apparently some people pay that interest. The thing about using credit cards is the huge data trail that you leave. As data mining tools become better people who have access to your usage patterns can make inferences about you. When they merge that data with your phone records, medical records and library records they'll be able to identify dupes and threats. For example, a just a few years ago some homeland security guy testified to congress that believers in animal rights and enviromentalists were the biggest terrorist threats to the nation. Well, if your purchase pattern shows no meat and no gasoline purchases coupled with checking out books on social justice and maybe some contributions to green peace you might find yourself in front of a secret military tribunal. For us though just putting posts on this forum advocating car free or simple living might mark us as a threat.