Reminder to all commenters that Europe is not a single homogeneous country and somewhat diverse in various things, including payments and finance. Credit cards are definitely a thing in many European countries.
replyIn my corner of the world, credit cards were for buying stuff on the internet and travelling outside the EU. Now the net has evelved enough to accept our normal means of payment. I always feel insecure when using a credit card.
replyPretty much all of the EU had Visa- and Mastercard-branded debit cards since the turn of the millennium, so one has been able to buy stuff from the net and travel abroad without use of a credit card for decades now.
replyAs an outsider: which countries lean which way? I'm curious how things trend where and I didn't even really know that debit was used by a majority in certain places (Countries? Regions? Historical based delimiters?).
replyGermany is very debit-card oriented (with no interest of switching). The Netherlands seems similar. Eastern Europe and the Balkans are also mostly debit-card oriented, but people seem more open to switching to credit cards (if they can get one - especially the younger generation).
replyIreland and the U.K. seem much more credit-card oriented than rest of Europe. Turkey is also very CC oriented (kinda strange - was not expecting that).
> Credit cards are definitely a thing in many European countries
replyYes, a thing associated with debt.
I lived in the UK before Brexit, and that would be an example of such.
You are of course free to extrapolate your experience from a single European country to the whole continent, but it's still not a coherent argument for or against anything.
replywhich ones use Credit Cards to a larger degree than Debit Cards, like they do in the US?
replyThat's not what GP said. They claimed that "everyone" in Europe uses debit cards, and that's just not true.
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replyNot everyone. We use both and mostly credit card for online payments that we pay off at the end of the month. It has a limit and it is easier deal with potential fraud vs a debit card where your own money goes. But does it matter? All my debit cards are Visa and Mastercard anyway.
replyAnd even when you have a credit card, it might act like a debit card (every payment shows as debit in your banking app, even if you really pay on the 10th of the month or something).
replywhich is in fact a massive pain in the ass, because car rentals and hotels often require credit cards to make reservations (at least in my experience...)
replyYep, although a huge % of banks are issuing Visa and MasterCard debit cards as default nowadays.
replyYes. Most people here (Austria) use their mastercard debit card to pay cashless. You get them at 14 already IIRC.
replyEu: Most of the people I know use debit rather than credit because we can manage our finances.
replyI only use CC, to earn airline points (based in Sweden). But I always pay the entire amount due at the end of the interest-free period, so I never pay interest.
replyI also like the fact that using a CC comes with better buyer protection than debit cards.
How exactly does “we can manage our finances” follow from picking debit over credit?
replyCan't go into debt if you don't have a line of credit.
replyIf one is capable of managing one's finances (and paying the card off in full every month), credit cards are a useful tool. They're a problem if one can't manage one's finances.
replyAnd most Europeans that have a credit-card need to pay them off at the end of the month. Technically they are charge cards. Unlike a traditional credit card, a charge card does not allow you to carry a revolving balance.
replyThis is not true. Plenty of Europeans have credit cards which work exactly like US credit cards.
replyThe main difference between credit cards in Europe and in the US is that poor people can't get them here.
Let's not pretend that predatory lending is not a thing in at least some EU countries as well, just because it takes other forms (installment payments, buy now pay later etc.), but as a general trend, I'd agree that it's much less common.
replyCan we please cool it with the sweeping "most/all of Europe" assertions? This, just like credit use overall, is also highly country/region specific.
replyNote to Europeans:
replyAmericans use credit cards and rarely debit cards because here the terms on debit cards are so much worse (for contesting charges, etc), so debit cards never really caught on for anything more than withdrawing cash.
In the US, users of debit cards are assumed to be uncreditworthy, because debit cards in the US have such bad T&C's that poor credit score is the main reason folks use them here.
The article uses the term credit card for apparently no reason, because Visa and Mastercard also support debit cards. The EU is probably more concerned about Visa and Mastercard payment networks being under the control of American leaders.
replyWe call every card a credit card even if most of them are actually debit.
replywe dont in spain, we call it "tarjeta de debito" and "tarjeta de credito" or just "la tarjeta" or the card.
replyAnd in Italy many people say Bancomat when they want to pay with the card even if they don't have a card with that circuit anymore.
replySlowly coming to a close in the US also.
replySome places already of course not accepting Amex, some places not accepting Visa Infinites (CSR, Venture, etc).
The future of banking is direct. The days of free rewards at a loss are gone as premium US cards are nearing the $1,000 AF mark for luxury coupons.
I'm in Europe and I can't say this is the case at all. I've never heard anyone express such an idea.
replyIt is in germany.
replyDid you grow up in Europe?
replyIt is a prevalent view among the lower socioeconomic classes.
replyAmong the middle and higher as well.
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