My bank in Germany actually has a hybrid system: Any charges are on the card, not your account but you have to specifically apply for deferred payment. The defa

My bank in Germany actually has a hybrid system: Any charges are on the card, not your account but you have to specifically apply for deferred payment. The default option is that they settle the credit balance with your checking account every month. Seems like a good system to me. You give people the "buffer" between your account and merchants but make it very hard for people to go into debt.