Is a “charge card” exactly the same thing as a "credit card"?

There are three different kinds of payment card: A Credit Card allows one to make payments up to an agreed credit limit. The payments are on credit and one is expected to reimburse the credit card company for credit used on a regular basis (usually monthly). The usual system allows one to have over a month's free credit without paying interest, provided that one pays back the amount borrowed in full at the end of the month. If the full amount is not paid back, interest will be charged. A Debit Card allows one to make payments provided that there are sufficient funds in one's bank account. In many countries the use of debit cards has entirely replaced the cheque. A Pre-funded Card is a system which can be operated without a bank account. The company accepts funds on your behalf which can then be spent in the same way as with a debit card. The difference between this and a debit card is that it is a separate account to a bank account and must be pre-funded manually by cash deposit or by transfer from a bank account. Technically, any of these could be called a 'Charge Card' (because the amount charged for the transaction is transferred using the card) but the term usually applies to a Pre-Funded Card (which must be 'charged' with funds before it can be used) and sometimes to a Debit Card. Interestingly, the last paragraph illustrates two different uses of the verb 'to charge'. When someone charges me for goods or services, it means that I am expected to pay money to them; when a pre-funded card is charged, the idea is the same as charging a battery or an explosive weapon before it can be used. Both of these meanings seem to have little connection with the meaning 'to run with some force at' (as in "The Charge of the Light Brigade", which describes a particularly disastrous offensive during the Crimean War).