Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background.

How can a credit card company make any money off me? I have a no-fee card and pay my balance on time
They don't make any money off of you personally. They make money off of the merchants per transaction when you use the card.  You trigger this fee to the credit card issuer, but it doesn't come out of your pocket.  (Or it shouldn't; merchants aren't allowed to pass this fee on to you.) They keep you around because you may at some point become less responsible than you already are, and it would be quite costly to get you back (a couple hundred dollars is the cost of acquiring a new credit card customer). People who are less responsible than you subsidize your free float and your rewards (if any) but the new CARD act makes it more difficult for people to use their cards irresponsibly, so these perks that you enjoy will get less perky with time.