If the idea of revolving credit (Credit Cards or Lines of Credit) scares you, you *could* try a charge card. The difference being that a charge card requires you pay the *entire balance* the following month. In this scenario, the onus is upon you, the consumer, to police your own spending. Should you not pay off the charged amount, they hit you with interest and fees (which *can* be worse than many Credit Cards), so you have to be careful not to overdo. As an example, traditional American Express cards are "Charge cards", not "Credit Cards".

With Credit Cards, again, the idea is that the onus is upon the consumer to police his or her own spending. Again, there is the interest to consider. Some credit cards seem a really sweet deal, but read the fine print. Many offer astoundingly low rates for a term, and then jack you up to the ceiling (usually once you've already spent some huge sum, and are hooked in). Here in the states, what with prime having been shaved *yet another* half point last week, the interest that some credit cards are charging is outrageous. Be careful.

The other option is a debit card, which will bear the Visa or MasterCard logo, and which can be used anywhere they are accepted, but which takes the funds directly from a checking without charging you interest for the purchase. These walk like a credit card, talk like a credit card, and are *processed* through the very same system as credit cards, but won't wind up costing you hundreds extra in interest. The catch is, you have to have the cash in your account at the time you make the purchase. Another catch is, if you *reserve* a car/hotel room with it, it *will* freeze those funds for a term, which means you will not have access to them until the hold is pulled off (usually, this occurs a day or so after some other method of payment is used to pay off the purchase, or the "reserve" is rescinded). I have counseled many a client to treat their Debit Card as if it *were* a Credit Card by making regular payments into the account as if it was owed. In the long run (especially if the checking account is interest bearing), you could wind up with more money rather than less (paid out in interest), and still have the access to a "Credit Card" for those instances when one is necessary. As a side note, if ever your Debit Card will not work as an ATM (to draw funds from an ATM, or at a POS (point of sale) transaction), try using it as a Credit Card. The 2 are processed through entirely different systems, and so, if one is down, the other likely will not be, and even if it is, most stores can process a Credit Card purchase even if the system is down. It allows you a greater amount of freedom than an ATM card alone does. Another benefit is that, nowadays, you are protected by the same insurances that protect Credit Cards (through the Visa or MasterCard agreements). If unauthorized purchases are made, contest them. You may be held liable for a portion of the funds, but it will not be the entirety.

I personally prefer the Debit Card. I don't like to use money I don't have, and my Debit Card can be used for reserving flights, reserving car rentals, or at stores that do not offer POS (point of sale) purchases with ATM cards, and I skip the interest altogether. I pay only for the purchase itself.

Uh, yes, I'm in banking...is it obvious? ;D