Credit cards are good
/Credit cards are fine/good, but you MUST pay them off every month.
Never carry a balance - establish that habit early on. After some introductory rate they are all 20%! Having 1 is actually good for building a credit score (which is important if you ever want a loan, to say, buy a house*). And you can get like 1.5 or 2% back on some cards. It always kills me when people pay with a debit card - so you don’t like getting 2% off of everything?
Remember you only need 1 though (don't get sucked into retailer cards). Having multiple cards is an accounting nightmare and makes it easy to accidentally miss a single payment which, amazingly, can ruin your credit score. Shop the latest and greatest cards on sites like nerdwallet. Have the monthly payment auto-withdrawn (so you’ll have to spend within your means, obvy).
Btw, debit cards are only for the rare need for ATM cash - and the world is quickly becoming cashless.
- Buying a home is a great way to invest. And you can’t really do that without a good to very good credit score which is established by religiously making your credit card payments on time (NEVER late). Same goes for other entry-level consumer debt, like say a car loan/lease. You have to make those payments on time - one mistake can drop a score from 750 to 600 (scores range from ~ 300 to 850). More on FICO credit score here.