This thread is so full of unbelievably wrong information that I wonder if most of the people in this thread have ever actually used a credit card. Are most people posting in this thread either 13 years old or broke?
This information relates to the United States. As a customer, you don't pay a fee to use a credit card. In fact, many times, you get cash back. For many (most) cards, you pay no fees at all as long as you pay the balance off when it is due. And you don't need the money in your account to buy something, you pay what is due a month or two later.
The merchant pays fees, yes. But the larger the merchant, the lower the fees they pay.
Let's look at a real example. Chase's Freedom credit card. I have one:
https://creditcards.chase.com/credit-cards/chase-freedom.aspxWhen you sign up, you get a free $150 to spend (after spending $500). Annual fee is $0.
If you pay your balance off when it is due, you charges are $0. The annual rate shown is if you float a balance, that is.. if you don't pay off what is due and you leave your account owing them money.
You get 1% cash back on all purchases and 5% cash back on certain purchases.
If your card gets stolen, according to US Federal law, the FCBA, the maximum you can lose if your card is lost or stolen and then used is $50.
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0213-lost-or-stolen-credit-atm-and-debit-cardsUS credit cards now have a chip so credit card skimmers no longer work if you use a terminal that has a chip reader. Unlike the EU, the US is chip + sig and not chip + pin. My chase card has a chip.
People in this thread are saying "bitcoin is cheaper because there are no fees". How many people get paid in bitcoin? People get paid in their local currency. Then they have to convert that to bitcoin. There's a fee and a risk because to do an exchange you usually use an online exchange and many of them have disappeared, along with the bitcoins and cash, on a regular basis.
Then you send the bitcoins to someone paying the transaction fee. Unlike a credit card, if they keep your bitcoins and send you nothing you are SOL (seriously out of luck). Unlike a credit card, if your bitcoins are stolen, you are SOL. On the other end, they likely need to convert them to local currency to buy something. There's yet another exchange involved.
Now, if I want to give someone $20, I can hand them a $20 bill. There is no transaction fee at all. The transaction is immediate.
If I want to give someone $20 with a check, I can write them a check. No transaction fee. Online, I can send an echeck (ACH).
I can send an electric bank wire in the US to anyone for no fee because my account balance is high enough. I can send $10MM with no fee at all. And there's a record of it so if they say they didn't get it, I can prove they did.
The misinformation is just unbelievable.