In the US and Canada, a person’s credit score is used to figure out how safe it is to lend them money. Big ticket items such as cars and houses are often bought on credit with a payment plan that includes interest - so the entity lending the money makes money off the loan. Good credit score = Less risk to the lender = Lower interest rate for the borrower = Less money spent in the long run.

Credit cards are an easy way to build a good credit score. I use mine for almost every purchase I make: groceries, gas, bills, subscriptions, donations. The things is, I pay it off in full each month (so I don’t pay interest fees to the credit card company) AND my card gives me 2% money back on my purchases. So if I use it for $20,000 worth of purchases, I automatically get $400 back. Free money!

Also, my bank limits the amount of transactions I can make in a month to 12. They charge a small fee from the 13th transaction onward. If I had to pay for everything directly by debit, I’d probably end up paying tens of dollars just in fees, each month!

Edited to add: By using my credit card and paying it in full, I demonstrate I’m trustworthy when it comes to credit, because I pay it back. That’s what a lender wants! This makes my credit score go up, which in turn helps me when I want to buy a car or get a mortgage on a house. I got my first credit card when I was 18, following the advice of my parents, and that has served me extremely well 15 years later! Who would you rather lend $20,000 to: someone who makes $50,000 and reliably pays back their credit card in full each month for 10 years and has zero debt, or someone who makes $500,000 but carries a $100,000 debt on their credit card?

So people who are savvy about credit do not buy everything “on credit” just because they pay for it with a credit card. It is legitimately a good way to save (or even make) money, at least in the US and Canada.