5 ms·
China is also an interesting example of a large, increasingly developed country where credit cards are barely used: they went straight to electronic payments wi
by 9nGQluzmnq3M 7y ago
China is also an interesting example of a large, increasingly developed country where credit cards are barely used: they went straight to electronic payments with Alipay/WeChat Pay. There are a number of companies in SE Asia and India trying to replicate the model, and many are starting to get traction: PayTM, GrabPay, Gojek, etc.
- MSD1976 7y agoAs far as I know, most of these payment networks don't extend credit to customers in the same way that Visa's network enables. Consumer credit is a very powerful force that is often under-appreciated, and that benefits all parties involved in a transaction (e.g., consumers, merchants, and banks).
- riffraff 7y agoI feel credit-cards-as-credit is mostly an American thing, basically everyone I know in Europe treats their card effectively as a debit one, the only difference being you could not rent a car with a debit one. Some people don't even know the difference and get surprised when their card cannot be used for some credit usages. (That is just my anecdotal evidence, of course)
- MSD1976 7y agoYou're definitely right. Different countries have varying degrees of credit vs debit penetration. US skews more credit.
- ian0 7y agoYep. Typically the the role of credit facilities is supplied by a different class of app, eg. Klarna, Kredivo, Akulaku. Though the wallets are now providing their own, eg Alipays Check Later, Gojek & Ovos Paylater.