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If it's zero interest and you're responsible there is not reason not to finance everything at 0% interest. I understand this is bad advice to dumb people who are not responsible but I've done very well just off inflation before opportunity cost into investments for financing many things.
Yes, the credit card issue. Conscientious people farm good credit scores by auto-paying their credit card debt off every month. It's free credit one month at a time. Or a few months at a time for furniture, etc. Time value adjusted $20 bills are lying around waiting for you to pick them up. Unless you are sort of low conscientiousness.
So credit companies rake in billions for the trivial price of constantly giving a few conscientious people free monthly microloans.
But it isn't actually "free" because the fees charged to merchants are passed on to the consumers. If everyone uses credit cards, everything costs more. (2% perhaps? Too lazy to look it up.) It's just hidden from you. The credit card companies aren't charities.
I could go on about how the agreements that merchants have to charge the same price to cash and credit customers are an abusive monopolistic practice, but not now.
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