Paypal debit has none of the overdraft problems that my old Key Bank DC did: I don’t have the money, the card is rejected outright — PP doesn’t assess any fee and I can just return the purchases to the shelf (or whip out a CC if I’m in serious need).

On the down side, the bank takes *as long as is legally permissible* to transfer money from my bank account to my PayPal card.

If I want to make a big purchase, I could transfer money to the checking account online, then go right to Best Buy or whatever. No stop to the bank.

I never knew the drafting limit (lack of credit) was marketed as a feature. That’s retarded. Using a D-card without knowing there’s enough money in your account is in the same league of Stupid as not paying your credit card balance every month.

* Every time I see some lady at Meijer buying 13 dollars of stuff at checkout and pulling out a checkbook to pay for it, it makes me SO ANGRY. I am not a patient man.

And yes, there will likely always be free credit cards. But that doesn’t change the basic cost/benefit equation for cards that do try to squeeze.

Realistically if one CC bank starts adding fees, you can just switch to another one. This happened to me a decade ago with Cap one. As you indicated in your post, there’s still money to be made in transaction fees. There will always be “free” credit cards.

You know, Ralph Nader doesn’t have credit and only carries cash. As long as you’re not planning to run for president, I don’t see how returning to “legal tender” could hurt you!