If you've never had a credit card jennyjoan I wonder if you fully understand what they are. They are NOT normally used for drawing out cash and spending it, as that is an expensive way of borrowing money. The main use is, for convenience, for buying goods instead of using cash. At the end of the month you get a bill from the credit card company and, if you pay it in full, it doesn't cost you anything. You can choose to pay only part of the debt but then you are charged interest at quite a high rate, although nowhere near that of the pay-day loans. For the convenience of not having to carry cash and only having one bill to pay we use ours for almost everything we buy but NEVER leave any of the balance outstanding or, as Cloverjo says, NEVER take out cash unless absolutely desperate (it's never happened yet).