Also remember that whole Eastern Europe (including East Germany) had no electronic payments before fall of Soviet Union. So credit cards took off in US in 80s

Also remember that whole Eastern Europe (including East Germany) had no electronic payments before fall of Soviet Union. So credit cards took off in US in 80s but half of Europe just got out from under communism in early 90s and they were not very trustworthy of western banks so would prefer cash. Also the banking and payment infrastructure was non existent so needed to be built from scratch. This probably slowed down uptake of credit/debit cards considerably. Cash is still king in Eastern Europe today.