The Visa and Mastercard protection bit is news to me… that’s pleasant.

As for fees, I pay none. One card I have is an Amex with no annual fee, but a requirement to maintain CostCo membership, which I was doing before I obtained that Amex anyway. That’s the closest thing to a fee involved. I don’t play with paper checks and mailing payments, and as a result, misapplied payments, etc… don’t get the chance to happen. Researching cards before signing up obviously pays off in terms of fees. There are plenty of cards with which *you* get paid and they don’t, because they’re banking on people spending beyond their means and carrying balances, so they don’t mess with annual fees and other nonsense, figuring they’ll make finance charges.

Money in interest bearing accounts is going to earn interest… no surprise there. The few cents interest I refer to is what is generated in a small interest checking account from which I pay the cards on a monthly basis… that few cents would be reduced if every financial transaction was instant, vs. delayed almost a month.

I have no illusions that the credit card companies are noble benefactors or that the credit reporting system is designed with our best interests in mind. They’re all about playing the numbers, and in such games, the house always wins. On the other hand, a skilled player can watch the rules and decide how to minimize or eliminate risk while gaining a benefit. If I suffered a catastrophe in my life right now, no credit might make me homeless, unable to obtain anything other than emergency medical treatment, etc… my established credit would allow me to weather a storm to a small degree, and see me through, at least temporarily and at great cost in the longer run. I play the game for the financial benefits, because this house’s rules *do* allow skilled players to make a little money, and because of the safety net afforded, as flimsy as it may be.