Regarding #1, I found these statistics from: http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-card-industry-facts-personal-debt-statistics-1276.php http://www

Regarding #1, I found these statistics from: http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-card-industry-facts-personal-debt-statistics-1276.php http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-card-indu... Approximately 74.9 percent of the U.S. families surveyed in 2004 had credit cards, and 58 percent of those families carried a balance. In 2001, 76.2 percent of families had credit cards, and 55 percent of those families carried a balance. So, assuming the balance hasn't shifted too drastically, it's true that the majority of Americans need (or at least find convenient) the credit. But there's also clearly plenty of people who don't; 15 to 20 percent of Americans is a pretty big market.