A Credit Card is generally one of four branded cards.

VISA, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express.

Three of them, VISA, MasterCard and AmericanExpress are networks that issue their own cards, and also sell their network to issuing banks.
Example. Bank of America VISA, and Bank of America MasterCard. While issued, maintained, and controlled by Bank of America, they have to adhere to VISA and MasterCard regulations and can only be used where Visa or MasterCard (depending which you use) are accepted.

American Debit Cards are cards issued by a bank to access your checking account electronically. When you use the DEBIT feature, it requires your PIN aka Personal Identification Number to access your money.
Most bank DEBIT cards have a VISA or MasterCard logo on them, so that the Bank who issued it can convince the customer to use it more. (Flexibility, you now can swipe the card on the 'credit' network, even though it's taking the money out of your bank account.)

Discover has yet to be issued by anyone but Nova.

A brief lesson in the difference between DEBIT and Credit cards on theory of how and where they work and who maintains them, inside of the United States.

Good example of Lusternian money-maker: me!

Transed... let me count... about 5 skills.
Changed from wiccan to warrior - 200 credits down the drain!
Bought an reincarnation dagger.

Money spent on Lusty: 0$.

Also, I am a lazy bum and wouldn't bash Astral all day even if it still gave money. How did I earn the money then?
1. Patience, perseverance and village quests. Especially village quests - every n00b can do them if you know how (and it's not that hard to figure out), and they give you (with a few exceptions) 5000 gold each. Also, at least one is open every time if you are looking around all of them (Paavik and Shanthmark are open 90% of the time) instead of just sitting in Stewartsville/Estelbar and waiting... waiting...
2. I got 500 credits... (well, 450 - gave some to a friend) for the map contest. But here's the catch - I have completely no graphic skills. The map looks pretty ugly too. But I took the opportunity - if I didn't win, I wouldn't lose anything. And I didn't even thought I'd win that much, I was hoping for 50-100 cr at best.
I know, no map contests these days. But... the writing contests are really easy to participate in, if you have an interesting topic to write about and can use sentences which are free of typos and leet-speak.

Money's almost falling from the skies in Lusty, people. You just have to know where to find it.

I'm horrible (I mean HORRIBLE) at everything but writing and If I try to write something it'll be IRl YEARS before I ever manage to finsh because I always have an insane urge to start things over and make it better

I've bought a total of 400 credits OOC and I have 7 trans skills, 1 at myth, and 1 at fabled. Never won a bardic either.

Everyone was a newbie. Getting around yourself in Lusternia can take time, but eventually you'll be disappointed if you earn only 10.000 gold a day (granted that you spend this day earning money for the character).

As for writing - have confidence in yourself. That's what makes you win. If you are not sure if your piece of art is good enough, post it here on the Arts and Crafts for constructive criticism. People do that - it's not that someone is going to steal the story from you, or disqualify you for sharing with others...
And if the story ends up being too long, you can cut it to pieces to send for several contests. More credits that way.

That sounds like cheating... chopping up a good story just to win more... although I could just write chapters at a time

I transed almost all of my monk skills in achaea only buying 100 credits. (I bought and sold credits like a good investor.. grabbing up anything lower then my average price and reselling them... yeah it is not nice and raises prices, but it aint hard...) The lack of a credit market at the time helped to.

Combine that with bashing, my monk was not only multi trans, I had a multi trans priest, paladin, and later shammi and magi...

-shrug- If you are so wise at buisness.. invest in a seed, and buy/sell your way to your goal. Credit market makes it a little easier.