I would venture to say a majority of American 20-somethings use a card as much as possible. My bank PNC has a decent toolset that allows you to do a lot of things automatically and includes a basic budgeting tool. It's pretty cool.

For every checking account I've had in the US, I've been given a debit card with a MasterCard/Visa logo on it, which can be used as credit or debit. Both methods deduct money from the same checking account, so using it as a credit card isn't really using credit, although it does come with credit card fraud protection when using it online.

I always pick credit at the terminal because it's faster and more secure than entering my PIN at some random POS, although the merchant then has to pay a credit card fee on that transaction.

But to answer your question: yes, lots of people pay for coffee with actual credit cards. Some like the budgeting, some like the rewards/cashback that come with many credit cards, and some people are just bad with their money.

I pay for everything I can with my credit card. It means I have a digital trail of all my spending, which makes budgeting much simpler.

Why not? Why pay now when you can pay later for free?

With 1% cash back, no less. I try to funnel all my expenses through a card -- and pay in full each billing cycle naturally.

The cash isn't free. You're paying the X% credit card tax on purchases via higher prices.

Not really. All the people not using a credit card are subsidizing your purchases so the impact on prices is negligible or non-existent.

VISA merchant rules generally guarantee that the plastic price will match the cash price. It's true that the merchant raises prices to compensate, but paying cash doesn't avoid that charge -- everyone pays the CC tax regardless of payment method. So you might as well get some of it back.

I pay for most of my purchases using my checking account, but I believe it's processed through Visa. I am often presented with a debit/credit option, so could be wrong there.

Don't forget that there is a lot of inertia in the States due to the huge population. It would be much more difficult to role out a national payment network here than in Australia. It's easier to piggy back on the system set up by the credit card companies than it is to get all the banks to work together.

There are a couple of other factors that make cards more appealing here too. Sales tax is added at the till. Where I live it's 8.75%. This means I can't know ahead of time what I owe and prepare the correct coins and notes. Additionally, I use Mint to track and categorize my spending. It sounds silly but it makes it so easy to track my budgets when I pay for everything by card.

I've always wanted to know about the 'international version' of Eftpos. A lot of internationals get confused at our Cheque/Savings/Credit.

Also, the large majority of banks offer Mastercard/Visa debit cards where even though you press 'Credit', its your money from your Savings account. You get the benefit of more consumer protection via Mastercard/Visa, as well as contactless payment and sometimes not having to sign or enter PIN

Americans will put nearly anything, however small, on a card, all the way down to a $2 cup of coffee.

Credit cards offer more protection for the consumer than a debit card. Using a debit card is just as bad as using a cheque. It's 2012. Use a credit card. Pay it off monthly.