"Tax the rich!" - The dumbest slogan ever.

[Andres]

Huh? I work at a fuel station and as a general trend you could say that the richer/wealthier people are more likely to pay with an American Express, or VISA Card, possibly a MasterCard.
I don't think they all became rich/wealthy because they didn't make sound financial decisions.

Indeed.

If you pay with your credit card, you pay with the money of the credit card company. At the end of the month, they send you a bill. If you pay on time, you don't have to pay interests. This means that you can keep your own money on a savings account, where it grants you interests, then at the end of the month, you pay the credit card bill. You get the interests on your money and the credit card company gets it's money back without interest. That's a win-win for you. On top of it, paying with a credit card is comfortable and if something goes wrong, you have a big company to back you up.

And I wonder why nobody seems able to answer my questions above, does a german credit card work differently from an english or american one, am I just stupid, or does nobody know?

I don't think it works differently. You pay with the credit card; at the end of the month you pay the bill, if you pay on time : no interests, if you pay too late: scandalous amount of interest. As long as there are enough people paying too late, you can make profit by using a credit card and paying the bill on time.

Hmm, another mystery, I wouldn't even know how to repay onto my credit card straight away, as I said, my bank balances it once a month, basically sets it to zero and takes/gives to difference from/to my bank account, quite frankly I don't know it any other way, not from my family or so either.

You probably use what they call here a "domiciliëring". An order at the bank to automatically pay at a certain company the amount they bill you on a fixed time.

I get a letter each month, which allows me to have a certain control. If there's a payement on the credit card company bill with my card that I didn't do, then I can check things and, in case of fraud, warn the credit card company. No automatic paiement from my bank account; of course this means you mustn't lose your paperwork out of sight. Personally, I dislike such orders where paiements go automatically, I prefer to do the paiements manually, as it gives far more control over my budget. I want to know exactly how much is being spent and how much is still on our accounts at any given time. The only stuff that I allow to be payed automatically are the mortgage and insurances.

edit: It's a different account in the bank, isn't it? I think my home banking program just doesn't show it.

No, it's a credit line. You pay with the money of the credit card company. Then you pay back the credit card company what you owe them at the end of the month.