This depends on the card. The cards people associated most with Amex (platinum, gold, etc) are charge cards and you're expected to pay them in full every month instead of carrying a balance. That's part of why Amex historically had higher fees for retailers. Those fees were their only source of income.

I'm sure most banks have good enough financial modelling that they can tweak their credit card approvals to get whatever balance between retail fees, annual fees, and interest they want for that card.

There is a difference between "credit credit cards" and "debit credit cards". Debit credit cards are a bad idea for consumers because of those 22% as well as liabilities when being victim of a crime. But yes, many people treat the limit of those debit credit cards as a way of having money. It isn't though.

Would the distinction be there are credit cards and then there are debit cards? Credit implies some sort of ability to be able to pay for something essentially out of the creditor's pocket with the agreement you will payback the creditor based on agreed upon terms. A debit card is a digital version of cash where if I don't have any, there is no transaction as the bank says no funds.

I have never heard of a debit credit card. Are we using the term credit card as a generic term meaning the little plastic card in my wallet?

Can you explain this a bit more? I have no idea what you mean by "credit credit card" vs "debit credit card".

Here is an FBI employee explaining the difference between the two when a breach happens: https://youtu.be/vsMydMDi3rI?t=2737

A more general article: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/05021...

OP said "debit credit cards" (not debit cards) and 22%. What's it?

At least in the U.S., there is no such thing as a "debit credit card", and debit cards do not have interest rates as they're (usually) coming straight out of a checking/savings account.