Burglary and getting ripped off by a company are two different sorts of things with different solutions.

Locks work because it stops a lot of opportunity crime. Simple and effective: For everything else, we have laws.

With consumer protection, what the 'get a credit card' crowd are basically saying is that sure, locks are available, but you have to be good enough to get one. Sorry about your luck, poor people that can't get one. Consumer protection laws are basically locks for everyone.

My point was that companies break the law a lot, and it usually takes a long time for those wrongs to be righted. By using a credit card, you avoid the harm in the meantime.

And nobody is denied a credit card just for being poor. What keeps you from getting a credit card is if you're poor but spend like you're rich, and so end up delinquent on a bunch of debt that bank gets stuck with.