This is definitely not my experience (or the experience of anyone I know) in the US. Debit cards don't ever involve a fee charged by your bank here. Businesses

This is definitely not my experience (or the experience of anyone I know) in the US. Debit cards don't ever involve a fee charged by your bank here. Businesses may charge a fixed fee for debit transactions, but that hasn't been common for probably a decade or more in my experience. Free credit cards a bountiful and my estimation is that the vast majority of people using a credit card with a (usually annual) fee are doing so because they have done at least some math to convince themselves that the benefits (usually cashback or airline miles) will outweigh the fee for their specific usage. In some localities, it is common for businesses to charge a fee for using plastic, but these days it's pretty much never tied to debit/credit anymore.