I pay for most of my purchases using my checking account, but I believe it's processed through Visa. I am often presented with a debit/credit option, so could be wrong there.
Don't forget that there is a lot of inertia in the States due to the huge population. It would be much more difficult to role out a national payment network here than in Australia. It's easier to piggy back on the system set up by the credit card companies than it is to get all the banks to work together.
There are a couple of other factors that make cards more appealing here too. Sales tax is added at the till. Where I live it's 8.75%. This means I can't know ahead of time what I owe and prepare the correct coins and notes. Additionally, I use Mint to track and categorize my spending. It sounds silly but it makes it so easy to track my budgets when I pay for everything by card.
Don't forget that there is a lot of inertia in the States due to the huge population. It would be much more difficult to role out a national payment network here than in Australia. It's easier to piggy back on the system set up by the credit card companies than it is to get all the banks to work together.
There are a couple of other factors that make cards more appealing here too. Sales tax is added at the till. Where I live it's 8.75%. This means I can't know ahead of time what I owe and prepare the correct coins and notes. Additionally, I use Mint to track and categorize my spending. It sounds silly but it makes it so easy to track my budgets when I pay for everything by card.