4 ms·

I'm confused - this commenter says the only reason some population of the EU have a credit card is to purchase stuff from US websites. Which to me implies that

I'm confused - this commenter says the only reason some population of the EU have a credit card is to purchase stuff from US websites. Which to me implies that their EU debit card only works locally. In my corner of the EU - I don't recognise this at all as every debit card you would get from a bank here (as an adult with no bad credit judgements) is Visa branded and works just fine anywhere worldwide that would be set up to handle Visa (electronically at least). People who make a habit of purchasing stuff abroad might well seek out a bank with a low/no currency exchange fee - and it could be that a credit card is more effective here, but it's nothing to do with the fundamental debit vs credit, and once again, simply isn't something that's generalise-able across the entire EU.

kalleboo 3y ago
I believe they're being phased out everywhere now but historically debit cards were something like Maestro, "Visa Electron", EC Card, Girocard, etc. Maybe the GP is still somewhere where those are still in use. I believe Germany is one of the big laggards in this space.
herbst 3y ago
Same here in Switzerland. Most cards I see now have dual use and work as debit and credit card with visa or master. My card works everywhere and even credit card transactions appear as slow debit transactions. I also don't pay any fees for any of that. Only the merchants do in my case.
- Symbiote 3y ago
  European debit cards work as debit cards, the distinction is the network used. My Danish debit card supports both Visa and Dankort, the Danish network. Danish companies will generally put the transaction through Dankort, as the fees are lower, but it's still a debit transaction if it goes through Visa's network. Dankort only cards begin with the number 5019. Visa+Dankort with 4571. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payment_card_number https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payment_card_number

kalleboo 3y ago

I believe they're being phased out everywhere now but historically debit cards were something like Maestro, "Visa Electron", EC Card, Girocard, etc. Maybe the GP is still somewhere where those are still in use. I believe Germany is one of the big laggards in this space.

herbst 3y ago

Same here in Switzerland. Most cards I see now have dual use and work as debit and credit card with visa or master. My card works everywhere and even credit card transactions appear as slow debit transactions. I also don't pay any fees for any of that. Only the merchants do in my case.

Symbiote 3y ago
European debit cards work as debit cards, the distinction is the network used. My Danish debit card supports both Visa and Dankort, the Danish network. Danish companies will generally put the transaction through Dankort, as the fees are lower, but it's still a debit transaction if it goes through Visa's network. Dankort only cards begin with the number 5019. Visa+Dankort with 4571. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payment_card_number https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payment_card_number