3 ms·
It's true Germany uses cash a lot more than other countries, but I wasn't trying to say we don't do card payments. I just said we don't use credit cards, we use
by Cu3PO42 7y ago
It's true Germany uses cash a lot more than other countries, but I wasn't trying to say we don't do card payments. I just said we don't use credit cards, we use debit cards instead which come by default with any standard bank account. However, these cards are neither MasterCard nor Visa and therefore do not work in online payment scenarios.
I have a credit card, but it is paid in full at the end of the month automatically, so for all intents and purposes it's essentially another debit card. Everyone I know in Germany who has a credit card uses it this way. In fact, my bank didn't even ask me if I wanted it set up any differently, so I have to imagine it's not just my social circle handling it this way.
- alanpearce 7y agoFor anyone confused about the debit card comment: A German debit card isn’t the same as any other. It doesn’t have Visa or MasterCard co-branding like other countries’ debit card, nor a 16 digit number, so it can’t be used online. I would rather have translated Girokarte to bank card, because there are actual debit cards with Visa/MC co-branding which are available in Germany, but less common than other kinds
- laurencerowe 7y agoAre debit card only German retailers supporting Visa / MasterCard debit cards now? Many UK banks used to issue Switch/Maestro cards which interoperated with the German bank card system so were accepted in German supermarkets, but these got phased out for Visa / MasterCard debit around 10 years ago meaning I had to start using cash everywhere.
- Cu3PO42 7y agoI've never heard of Switch, but to my knowledge there is nothing about Maestro that integrates specifically with the German banking system. It just so happens that German debit cards are typically co-branded as Maestro (and nowadays sometimes V-Pay), which is why it was commonly accepted. The fact that fees were lower than credit cards probably played a significant role in that. When the EU capped the interchange fees in 2015, many retailers started accepting MasterCard and Visa here. AMEX is exempt from the regulation since it's a three-party system and less commonly accepted. I'm not aware of any retailers that accept MC/Visa debit, but not credit cards or vice versa.