1. The requirements are usually something like spend $1000 in 3 months...is that really a concern to you? And yes, I'll give a woohoo for accepting 150 free dollars. I'll accept as much free money as a business wants to give. And they offer this (usually more) for opening a checking account? Sweet...I'll accept that too, if I want another checking account. Now I've earned $300 for basically no effort. Great day.

2. I have two credit cards which range from 1%-10% cash back. No, I don't have to target spend. I just select the credit card I want to use depending on what I happen to be buying. I'll stress it again: I don't change my spending behavior AT ALL. I earned several hundred dollars doing this last year, for once again, no effort and no change in my spending habits. Even if it's only $100, I still celebrate because I always accept free money.

3. I don't have a mortgage, so I won't comment on that part. But the fact that you say a credit history is worthless is LAUGHABLE. I'll leave it at that.

4. That's great that your credit card has fraud protection, but that doesnt take anything away from a credit card's fraud protection. Those are benefits of both cards. That being said, debit cards are usually slightly more difficult to deal with if someone withdraws money from an ATM using your card (e.g. sometimes you are liable up to $50 if you notify your bank within 2 days, or if you wait longer than that they can charge you more. It depends on the bank).

5. Many times. Every time I've used a rental car, I enjoy the protection offered by my CC.

6. Cool. Once again, just because your debit card has the same thing, doesn't mean it's not beneficial to CCs as well.

7. Haha...this isn't a true concern of yours is it? If so, you need to R-E-L-A-X. A much more realistic situation is going out to eat somewhere where they accept cash only. In that case, I keep some cash in my wallet and just use that. What's the big deal? I'm not going to cry about having to use cash for a meal...I just prefer to use my CC when I can because I like accepting free money.


So basically at best a debit card can offer some of the same features as a credit card. That's great. But credit cards also give you free money...that's the kicker. To make this clearer...I bring in a few hundred dollars each year from using my credit card (no additional effort whatsoever) and I've paid a total of $0 for it. I'm not forcing anyone to accept free money, but I figure some people might be like me and enjoy receiving extra cash for no additional work.

And you're wrong about my career. I'm a financial analyst at a large investment management company. We don't offer credit cards of any kind. I receive absolutely no benefit if people here decide to use their credit cards. It's just a useful financial tip..credit cards can bring in free money as long as you use them properly.