History Main / CreditCardPlot

** Peter gets a secret credit card so he can buy things without Lois knowing, on the advice of his friends who also have secret cards for the same reason. Though with Peter being Peter, he acts likes it's free money and goes on a ridiculous spending spree, which quickly tips off Lois to the existence of the card rather quickly.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Balatro}}'', the Credit Card costs on $1 to purchase from the shop and allows the player to go up to $20 in debt. True to its namesake, it's useful for making necessary purchases when money is low, but often ends up being harmful in the long run because a player obviously isn't generating any interest while their money is negative, and selling it prevents the player from buying anything until they WorkOffTheDebt.

* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'': After Reese is kicked out of the house for a bad prank, he rents his own apartment, and does surprisingly well... until his parents find out he didn't quite grasp the concept of a credit card.
** In another episode, Malcolm's parents find out Malcolm bought Christmas presents with a credit card they didn't know he had. Hal uses a pretend hug as a pretense to steal the card, which Hal then uses to pay for a trip for the entire family without telling Malcolm that he put it on Malcolm's credit card.
* In the ''Series/MamasFamily'' episode "Zirconias Are a Girl's Best Friend," Mama discovers a shopping channel called "KRAY Teleshopper" and instantly becomes addicted, running up a huge credit card bill on such things as: matching zirconia jewelry, personal handheld fans, a bronze gavel, and a "portrait of Elvis that lights up."
* The Bundys, of ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'', go nuts with a credit card that is accidentally issued in Buck the dog's name. All the stuff gets repossessed after Steve tells Bud that what Al and Peg are doing is illegal; of course, the romantic evening Al treated Peggy to at the best hotel in town can't exactly be repossessed, so Al ends up having to work as a bellhop at the hotel to pay it back.

* Unusual example from ''Series/MyNameIsEarl,'' in retaliation to a [[PopTheTires tire popping incident]]. The credit card used was stolen from Joy's half-sister and SitcomArchNemesis, Liberty, back when Earl and Joy were still married. They used the card to purchase all sorts of wacky things (laser eye surgery for a random homeless guy, tap dancing lessons for Randy, Jimmy Buffet tickets, a tanning bed, rented jet skis, just to name a few things.) Liberty was receiving hundreds of calls per day from bill collectors and credit monitoring agencies, but she eventually got the debt erased. Earl and Joy still find a way to make up for it. [[spoiler: Namely, by getting Joy to surrogate a baby for Liberty, so the latter could pursue her wrestling career and still have the child she and her husband wanted.]]

%% This is a zero context example. Please do not unhide until further context has been added.* ''Series/SavedByTheBell'', "The Lisa Card".

* ''[[Manga/TheLaughingSalesman The Laughing Salesman New]]'' has a very unique version of this plot in the episode "Make a Budget and Stick to it". An under appreciated office lady named Takashima Mitsuko has a [[RetailTherapy shopping problem]] and is given a special credit card by Fukuzou Moguro that lets her buy whatever she wants, but on the condition that it will be repossessed the next day. After growing bored with not being able to own anything, Takashima decides to use the card on spa and cosmetic treatments... only to learn the hard way that [[RidiculousRepossession there are no exceptions on what can be repossessed]].

* Discussed in ''Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit'' by James D. Scurlock, which examines how providing excess credit to people who would never have qualified before can produce huge profits as they attempt to pay off the debts they cannot afford. By adding spurious and expensive charges to the extortionate interest, you can lend say £1000, receive maybe £2000 and then write off £5000 when selling the debt on to people who will hound the debtor. After seven years a debt slides off your credit score, but if you are convinced to pay back a single penny, the clock is set to 0 again.

* A not-lengthy browse through the archives of Website/NotAlwaysRight will find not only people who run up huge credit card debts, but people who genuinely thought it worked like a gift card, and are horrified that they have to pay it back. Most can be found under the title of ''"This Is Why We’re In A Recession, Part X"''.[[note]]Of which there are currently '''[[https://notalwaysright.com/this-is-why-were-in-a-recession-part-109/ over 100 entries]]'''.[[/note]]

* Done in ''WesternAnimation/BrandyAndMrWhiskers''. {{Justified|Trope}} in that Whiskers, who ran up the debt, is an idiot who believes what he's told regardless of past experiences. And, well, he was told he no longer had to worry about getting enough money to pay for all the crap he needed/wanted, so...

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Sealab 2021}}'', Captain Murphy runs up massive credit card debts; he is a complete idiot, after all, and quite possibly insane. In order to pay off his debts, he assists Sparks in killing off the rest of the crew to collect the ensuing insurance money. They succeed...at least until [[NegativeContinuity Sparks and Murphy die as well]].

->'''Captain Murphy:''' You didn't tell me I had to pay them back!
->'''Sparks:''' Well, not exactly.
->'''Captain Murphy:''' You ''exactly'' told me that it was a magical goodies creator!
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/{{Sealab 2021}}''

* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS IOU}}'' includes a sample adventure where the characters acquire a magical credit card with '''no''' limit -- if you try to check the account's balance, it reads "JACKPOT". Later on -- likely ''after'' they've purchased a bunch of expensive stuff -- they'll find out that [[spoiler:the card is made in Hell, and the debt is paid not with money, but in souls!]] The plot is played out as a parody of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' with the card taking the place of the Ring.