3 ms·

Dunno, in a lot of europe, though credit cards are readily available, most of my family (I have relatives in Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia) doesn't have o

Dunno, in a lot of europe, though credit cards are readily available, most of my family (I have relatives in Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia) doesn't have or want them. They have forms of payment which are strange to me but basically are some form of bank debit card, accepted everywhere. Or fancy phone / app payment methods we can only dream of here. I didn't read the OP as necessarily implying technical or cultural superiority; credit cards are big in US and may or may not be big somewhere else, as you point out as well, so I felt the quoted statement is quite plainly factual rather than layered with hidden or interpreted meanings...

Graffur 6y ago
How do you know what cards your relatives in other countries have?
- NikolaNovak 6y ago
  I mean, if genuine question, how do you know anything about your family? :) You talk, you notice when you go shopping together, etc :)
  - Graffur 6y ago
    Of course it's a genuine question. I am calling you out. You don't know what cards they have. You have gone shopping with your relatives in 5 different countries within the last year? You know that they haven't gotten new cards or changed their habits since you last saw them? You don't talk about credit cards that often. :) You make an assumption because of some info at some point in time and think of it as a constant fact. :) For example, I know my brother had a credit card. Does he still have it? I would have to call him and ask him. :)
hurflmurfl 6y ago
When a form on a web-site says CC (Credit Card) I can always pay with my debit card. (Unless you're talking about another sort of debit card that isn't what I call a debit card - "a MasterCard/Visa/etc with no overdraft). To me it seems like some people use the term "credit card" for any bank card, while some actually mean the "credit" part. While "credit" (non-debit) cards don't seem to be THAT popular in the European part of the world, I think that bank cards are pretty much ubiquitous.
- banana_giraffe 6y ago
  For what it's worth, what you have is a Visa Debit (or Mastercard Debit) card, though the branding on them isn't consistent. Debit cards that can't interop with the Visa/Mastercard networks do exist, I have one .. mostly because I'm lazy and haven't asked for a change. Dunno how rare they are, I suspect rare, but I can't find any numbers with a quick search.
  - frosted-flakes 6y ago
    All of Canada uses debit cards that don't work over the credit network. Some banks allow you to request a VISA number that's linked to your chequing account (for online use only), but debit cards use the separate Interac system.
    - banana_giraffe 6y ago
      Interesting. I should have been clear: I suspect debit-only cards are rare in the US. Outside the US: No clue at all.
      - gwillen 6y ago
        I have heard debit-only cards in the US referred to as "ATM cards" occasionally, but that was a few years ago. I think if an account belongs to a minor child, it may not be possible to get a regular debit card (that also works with the credit card network), but an ATM card may be possible? That's the only reason I'm aware of to get one.
- alanpearce 6y ago
  Yes, there's a different kind of debit card. I usually use a different term that's country-specific (like the cards themselves). For Germany, a German debit card (the "other sort", as you put it) isn’t the same as any other. It doesn’t have Visa or MasterCard co-branding like other countries’ debit cards, nor a 16 digit number, so it can’t be used online. I might also use the term "bank card" for this, because there are actual debit cards with Visa/MC co-branding which are available in Germany, but less common than other types. It's also common for Germans to use "Kreditkarte" to mean anything with Visa/MC co-branding, which probably spills over into English. This also leads to the hilarious term "echte Kreditkarten" (real credit cards) for cards that actually have a rolling line of credit attached (these are rarely offered). However, in the UK I recall that people are usually specific about whether they mean a credit card or a debit card.

Graffur 6y ago

How do you know what cards your relatives in other countries have?

NikolaNovak 6y ago
I mean, if genuine question, how do you know anything about your family? :) You talk, you notice when you go shopping together, etc :)
- Graffur 6y ago
  Of course it's a genuine question. I am calling you out. You don't know what cards they have. You have gone shopping with your relatives in 5 different countries within the last year? You know that they haven't gotten new cards or changed their habits since you last saw them? You don't talk about credit cards that often. :) You make an assumption because of some info at some point in time and think of it as a constant fact. :) For example, I know my brother had a credit card. Does he still have it? I would have to call him and ask him. :)

hurflmurfl 6y ago

When a form on a web-site says CC (Credit Card) I can always pay with my debit card. (Unless you're talking about another sort of debit card that isn't what I call a debit card - "a MasterCard/Visa/etc with no overdraft). To me it seems like some people use the term "credit card" for any bank card, while some actually mean the "credit" part. While "credit" (non-debit) cards don't seem to be THAT popular in the European part of the world, I think that bank cards are pretty much ubiquitous.

banana_giraffe 6y ago
For what it's worth, what you have is a Visa Debit (or Mastercard Debit) card, though the branding on them isn't consistent. Debit cards that can't interop with the Visa/Mastercard networks do exist, I have one .. mostly because I'm lazy and haven't asked for a change. Dunno how rare they are, I suspect rare, but I can't find any numbers with a quick search.
- frosted-flakes 6y ago
  All of Canada uses debit cards that don't work over the credit network. Some banks allow you to request a VISA number that's linked to your chequing account (for online use only), but debit cards use the separate Interac system.
  - banana_giraffe 6y ago
    Interesting. I should have been clear: I suspect debit-only cards are rare in the US. Outside the US: No clue at all.
    - gwillen 6y ago
      I have heard debit-only cards in the US referred to as "ATM cards" occasionally, but that was a few years ago. I think if an account belongs to a minor child, it may not be possible to get a regular debit card (that also works with the credit card network), but an ATM card may be possible? That's the only reason I'm aware of to get one.
alanpearce 6y ago
Yes, there's a different kind of debit card. I usually use a different term that's country-specific (like the cards themselves). For Germany, a German debit card (the "other sort", as you put it) isn’t the same as any other. It doesn’t have Visa or MasterCard co-branding like other countries’ debit cards, nor a 16 digit number, so it can’t be used online. I might also use the term "bank card" for this, because there are actual debit cards with Visa/MC co-branding which are available in Germany, but less common than other types. It's also common for Germans to use "Kreditkarte" to mean anything with Visa/MC co-branding, which probably spills over into English. This also leads to the hilarious term "echte Kreditkarten" (real credit cards) for cards that actually have a rolling line of credit attached (these are rarely offered). However, in the UK I recall that people are usually specific about whether they mean a credit card or a debit card.