It means not having to spell out a list of Western European and East Asian countries where credit cards might as well not exist. It was somewhat of a callout: p

It means not having to spell out a list of Western European and East Asian countries where credit cards might as well not exist. It was somewhat of a callout: patio11 lives in such a country (Japan), but his anecdote of amazement is set in the first world country with the least-decent consumer banking transaction system (USA). You do have a point though, most of the countries people might call 'uncivilized' have perfectly good consumer banking.