Are any aspies really frugal?

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The credit card system is really different in Europe and to my knowledge UK too...

I have a couple of credit cards that are always fully paid - my bank doesn't do any of those shenanigans you mention.

Getting a credit card and keeping it reliably paid off can also help your odds of getting a loan to start a business or buy a home in the future, should those things be of interest.

I am too cheap to spend lot of money on one piece of clothing or on a toy. I don't buy new video games often. I do thrift a lot. We also shop at Winco.

I have a credit card because of how much money we get from Social Security and how my pay days are and our bills, we don't always have money to buy something we need or when I need to get gas because it's been spent on food or bills so I use my credit card and pay it when I am paid. I don't even need to borrow money. Lot of people use credit cards for this reason. They can afford it but don't have it right now so they use their credit card. Only a irresponsible person would buy a bunch of stuff they don't need and keep on going out and spending money on food and things and rank up in debt.

I can't go into debt as I have no way to get out of debt if I go in.

To me, Voluntary Simplicity is just a corollary of the Golden Rule, which I have always followed. It costs me less than $200 pa for parts and depreciation for cars that are economical, reliable, and unfashionable. I won a world championship with many salvaged parts mixed into my work, beating teams with vast resources. I buy very little prepared food, never with service, and have made my own maple syrup. I can make appliances work again by taking parts from other junkers. Being so handy, I was slow to find the markets for cheap used things, sometimes buying and using new material instead.
However, I also have a credit card, and it has saved my hide a couple of times when luck turned against me.

I am very careful with money usually. But I don't have much to spend. I remember years ago I saw a wallet for £3.99. I didn't buy it as I did not need a wallet. Most wallets don't take coins. When my wallet wore out and it reached a stage where money was falling out, I decided to buy a new one. I went to look. £7.99. How much! I couldn't find any for £3.99. I could afford £7.99 but it was too much out of principle. I spent the next two years trying to find a £3.99 wallet. Then about six months after that I happened to have 45 minuted between trains, and I went in a shop. Nothing seemed to be priced. I asked "How much is this..." and "How much is this?" The young lady kept saying a pound. After asking six or seven times I asked "Is everything a pound?"
She said "You're in a pound shop. What do you think?"
I hadn't noticed I had walked into a pound shop.
then I saw a wallet. The last one. One outer zip was broken but the inner zip (The bit I needed) was fine. I went to ask if she had any more in stock and she said "I will let you have it for 50p. So I had a wallet for 50 pence.
I went back home and said the entire story. My dad thought it was hillarious. He said "You tight person!" and was mentioning that if I opened my walled moths would fly out of it! I doubt it. The last wallet had too many holes!

I am careful with my money, especially paycheck money. If people suggest for me to buy things, I usually tell them that I'm saving my money. I save a lot of change too. I don't like wasting it on little things, and do save them up. I also let amazon gfitcards build up to hundreds of dollars.

With gift money, admittedly I splurge more but I still let it build up to certain amounts before I do this.