16 ms·

Never seen credit cards outside of the US/UK/Canada...

ghaff 10y ago
I use them in continental Europe and Asia all the time. Maybe they're not as common but they certainly aren't anything like unheard of even if they're not as universal as in the US.
dirktheman 10y ago
Here in the Netherlands credit cards are used almost exclusively for online purchases. If you're a (brick) store owner and you would like to accept credit cards at your payment terminal you pay a hefty premium for that transaction. It's usually around 5% of the total amount. Debit cards, that's another story. Most people pay with their debit cards instead of cash. It's convenient, even more so since the introduction of contactless bank cards.
coldtea 10y ago
They are used all over the world, including in France. Not sure what are you talking about... Except if you live in some rural area...
- Xixi 10y ago
  I don't know many people who use credit cards in France. Practically everybody use the so-called CB which is a debit card (either immediate or deferred, usually deferred), not a credit card. It doesn't allow you to accrue debt: the balance is always re-paid in full, and the linked bank account (usually a checking account) will go red in case of overspending. That said there are definitely credit cards, usually linked to big retailers (Auchan, etc.), but are they that popular?
  - coldtea 10y ago
    From what I see, most people use the CB, but: "Euromonitor International, a market research company, estimated that there were just 34 million French credit cards in circulation" (0.5 per person, in contrast the US has ~4 cards per person). Average credit card spending per French annually is $300 -- so quite insignificant compared to Americans (which would be almost half their annual salary if not more).
    - mtw 10y ago
      A credit card in France is not the same as a credit card in the USA or Canada. In France, a purchase paid with a VISA/Mastercard is taken directly from your checkings bank account. Yes it is called "carte de crédit" i.e. credit card but when you think about it, it is not actually credit. In Canada, paying with VISA/Mastercard is considered as credit i.e. debt. You can pay with VISA even if at the present moment, you do not have the cash in your bank account. Banks, VISA and others like this because they will then be able to charge you 25 to 35% of the amount at the end of the month if you do not pay in time. It does not matter then to compare average spending or number of transactions since it's two different meanings.
      - kgwgk 10y ago
        Do you have any reference for the French "cartes de crédit" not being the same as the credit cards elsewhere?
        kiyundai 10y ago
        disclaimer : I'm french Strictly speaking a credit card is a "carte de credit", however between the simple translation with english, the similarities between the form factor etc, A LOT of French (especially not used to the US credit card) will call their debit card 'carte de crédit' Their is a lot of confusion on this, but most of the time french people use debit card. In fact I think banks almost don't advertise credit card, only companies offer this (airlines/supermarket) On the technical side, there is no difference most people have visa/mastercard
        kgwgk 10y ago
        mtw's message was in reply to someone talking about credit cards, as opposed to debit cards ("most people use the CB, but"). But maybe he didn't notice. And I don't know if the figure quoted there is good. Elsewhere [1] I found 20 million credit cards, instead of 34. [1] https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/market-studies/ms14-6-2-ccms-annex-11.pdf https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/market-studies/ms14-6-2-c...)
- thatfrenchguy 10y ago
  I meant people use debit card instead. Sure, I can use my us credit card in France after te weird you-need-a-signature-? look, but no-one has credit cards there :-)
  - hx87 10y ago
    > Sure, I can use my us credit card in France after te weird you-need-a-signature-? look I thought chip-and-PIN was the standard over there?
    - gsnedders 10y ago
      Cards without a chip require a signature; cards with a chip have their own preference as to whether they prefer chip-and-signature or chip-and-PIN (i.e., it's a preference of the card, not the terminal).
      - hx87 10y ago
        Chip-and-signature cards are annoyingly common in the USA, but I though chip-and-PIN cards were standard in that part of the world.
        gsnedders 10y ago
        Chip-and-PIN are absolutely the common thing. Hence why the terminal informs the staff member that a signature is needed (because of being presented a chip-and-signature card) they get confused: they aren't used to it happening, at all! I've had the exact opposite in the US, getting asked if I'm sure I'm okay with entering my PIN having presented a chip-and-PIN card, seemingly expecting me not to know my PIN.
- wott 10y ago
  We never use them as credit card in France. It took me a loooong while to understand, when I lived abroad, why the cashier would always ask me a question when I used my card to pay. In fact I understood later that they were asking if I wanted to use debit or credit. And that felt really odd to me. And it still does. I still don't know what would have been the point to make a loan to buy a bag of potatoes, but well... Cultural differences.
  - chrisper 10y ago
    The loan comes with a lot of benefits. (e.g. point rewards, protection, etc.). Why is it bad if you loan money if you can pay it back right away? I am sure you have asked your friends for money once when you were out and ran out of cash just to pay them back later that evening?
    - vertex-four 10y ago
      If you actually have cash or access to cash (aka a debit card) on you, that'd be really weird to do though.

ghaff 10y ago

I use them in continental Europe and Asia all the time. Maybe they're not as common but they certainly aren't anything like unheard of even if they're not as universal as in the US.

dirktheman 10y ago

Here in the Netherlands credit cards are used almost exclusively for online purchases. If you're a (brick) store owner and you would like to accept credit cards at your payment terminal you pay a hefty premium for that transaction. It's usually around 5% of the total amount. Debit cards, that's another story. Most people pay with their debit cards instead of cash. It's convenient, even more so since the introduction of contactless bank cards.

coldtea 10y ago

They are used all over the world, including in France. Not sure what are you talking about... Except if you live in some rural area...

Xixi 10y ago
I don't know many people who use credit cards in France. Practically everybody use the so-called CB which is a debit card (either immediate or deferred, usually deferred), not a credit card. It doesn't allow you to accrue debt: the balance is always re-paid in full, and the linked bank account (usually a checking account) will go red in case of overspending. That said there are definitely credit cards, usually linked to big retailers (Auchan, etc.), but are they that popular?
- coldtea 10y ago
  From what I see, most people use the CB, but: "Euromonitor International, a market research company, estimated that there were just 34 million French credit cards in circulation" (0.5 per person, in contrast the US has ~4 cards per person). Average credit card spending per French annually is $300 -- so quite insignificant compared to Americans (which would be almost half their annual salary if not more).
  - mtw 10y ago
    A credit card in France is not the same as a credit card in the USA or Canada. In France, a purchase paid with a VISA/Mastercard is taken directly from your checkings bank account. Yes it is called "carte de crédit" i.e. credit card but when you think about it, it is not actually credit. In Canada, paying with VISA/Mastercard is considered as credit i.e. debt. You can pay with VISA even if at the present moment, you do not have the cash in your bank account. Banks, VISA and others like this because they will then be able to charge you 25 to 35% of the amount at the end of the month if you do not pay in time. It does not matter then to compare average spending or number of transactions since it's two different meanings.
    - kgwgk 10y ago
      Do you have any reference for the French "cartes de crédit" not being the same as the credit cards elsewhere?
      - kiyundai 10y ago
        disclaimer : I'm french Strictly speaking a credit card is a "carte de credit", however between the simple translation with english, the similarities between the form factor etc, A LOT of French (especially not used to the US credit card) will call their debit card 'carte de crédit' Their is a lot of confusion on this, but most of the time french people use debit card. In fact I think banks almost don't advertise credit card, only companies offer this (airlines/supermarket) On the technical side, there is no difference most people have visa/mastercard
        kgwgk 10y ago
        mtw's message was in reply to someone talking about credit cards, as opposed to debit cards ("most people use the CB, but"). But maybe he didn't notice. And I don't know if the figure quoted there is good. Elsewhere [1] I found 20 million credit cards, instead of 34. [1] https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/market-studies/ms14-6-2-ccms-annex-11.pdf https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/market-studies/ms14-6-2-c...)
thatfrenchguy 10y ago
I meant people use debit card instead. Sure, I can use my us credit card in France after te weird you-need-a-signature-? look, but no-one has credit cards there :-)
- hx87 10y ago
  > Sure, I can use my us credit card in France after te weird you-need-a-signature-? look I thought chip-and-PIN was the standard over there?
  - gsnedders 10y ago
    Cards without a chip require a signature; cards with a chip have their own preference as to whether they prefer chip-and-signature or chip-and-PIN (i.e., it's a preference of the card, not the terminal).
    - hx87 10y ago
      Chip-and-signature cards are annoyingly common in the USA, but I though chip-and-PIN cards were standard in that part of the world.
      - gsnedders 10y ago
        Chip-and-PIN are absolutely the common thing. Hence why the terminal informs the staff member that a signature is needed (because of being presented a chip-and-signature card) they get confused: they aren't used to it happening, at all! I've had the exact opposite in the US, getting asked if I'm sure I'm okay with entering my PIN having presented a chip-and-PIN card, seemingly expecting me not to know my PIN.
wott 10y ago
We never use them as credit card in France. It took me a loooong while to understand, when I lived abroad, why the cashier would always ask me a question when I used my card to pay. In fact I understood later that they were asking if I wanted to use debit or credit. And that felt really odd to me. And it still does. I still don't know what would have been the point to make a loan to buy a bag of potatoes, but well... Cultural differences.
- chrisper 10y ago
  The loan comes with a lot of benefits. (e.g. point rewards, protection, etc.). Why is it bad if you loan money if you can pay it back right away? I am sure you have asked your friends for money once when you were out and ran out of cash just to pay them back later that evening?
  - vertex-four 10y ago
    If you actually have cash or access to cash (aka a debit card) on you, that'd be really weird to do though.