Antoine says...

French people don’t use credit cards. The idea of spending money you don’t have is perilously frightening to them. I tell him that many many Americans have accrued thousands of dollars of credit card debt, and that furthermore, credit cards, loans, and credit ratings are at the core of a good chunk of American’s personal finances (I qualify this assertion by noting that I am just beginning to understand my own personal finances). He says there is pretty much one kind of loan in France, and there are no credit ratings. If you have a good secure job you get a loan. However, many French bank accounts allow you to maintain a modest negative balance without interest or penalty.