Ken, Thanks for posting. Those are two very good reasons for having a credit card. The infernal things are just about necessary for modern life, but that doesn't mean we have to like them! And we should certainly make the rules work for us instead of them if we can. Cheri

Georgios, When I posted this, I was not unmindful of the fact that many of my friends are from other countries. I have absolutely no knowledge of credit and debt in any country other than the US, but I'm beginning to wonder if it's the same everywhere. Here, the credit industry has a very strong lobby that has managed to secure some laws which seem very unfair. When it comes down to the bottom line, though, we have created the monster ourselves by failing to control our discretionary spending. I'd welcome posts from elsewhere in the world comparing others' experiences. Cheri

Hello Cheri, Back again! e-cards are a h*ll of a problem in many countries, so in Greece. People have 5-15 different cards. They get a new card everytime the can not pay the others. A whole big industry is set up here too. Rules and laws are almost international because all this cards can be used international. I decided to have only one just to have a control over it and to use it with measure (sense). Best Regards Georgios

Cheri! Good Information. btw, I found that there is help. and one place to find it is at http://www.myid.ws

thank you for this info. you really do need a credit card for some things now, but it does get scarry.