Google Place API usage limitations and billing

Yes, you will have what they are saying. I have done that, so I can confirm... If you put your credit card info, you are letting them know that you are a verified user, and that therefore you won't misuse their services.

And for the second question, we are talking about Google here. It is really true, you won't be charged, they can make money from other sources :)

EDIT:

Actually, if you need more than the "verified" option, it seems you can contact them as stated by Thor Mitchell (Product Manager @Google) in this topic at Quora: Pros and Cons of Places API

"The limits on use (after identity verification) is 100,000 requests per day, and we're happy to talk to developers who need more about their requirements."

As of today, the limit is 150,000 free requests per day, but the documentation is hard to make sense of in terms of how they bill overage.