And I think CC users (and more in general, the US populace) are more used to having debt. If you use a debit card, nothing needs to be paid back or remembered. With a credit card, you have to make sure that every month you clear your debt, otherwise you're starting to incur juicy fees -- this is what banks hope for! If you do clear your debts faithfully, you're having free very short terms loans every month..! But, being human, circumstances can happen where a monthly debt repayment does not happen, and then: kaching! But many people do not pay everything back every month, and this is a good money maker for banks.