You are missing my point. I don't care if credit reconciles immediately at the bank level or not, I care about what credit cards allow me to do, which is smooth over lumpy cashflow.

If I have expenses of 100K a year, without access to credit I have to make 100K a year without fail, or I am insolvent. With credit, I can make 100K one year, 0 the next and 200K (+ whatever interest I need to pay for Year 2) in the final year. The optionality is more than worth whatever interest and surcharges I encountered by using credit in Year 2.

Lest you think this is insane, this is how I bootstrapped my last business.