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The truth is that the chargeback capability of VISA cards is simply insurance in disguise. On a technical basis, bank transfers are already capable of replacing

The truth is that the chargeback capability of VISA cards is simply insurance in disguise. On a technical basis, bank transfers are already capable of replacing credit card infrastructure, as is digital cash and cryptocurrency for that matter. Most domestic bank transfers involving my current account (UK <-> UK) complete more quickly than the average VISA payment takes to settle. Smartcards for contactless use are now the only thing missing, and only in some countries. Britain, notably, being one of those lacking it :/ I think if banks offered fraud victim insurance for payments made with digital cash, cryptocurrency and electronic cheques as standard (above and beyond that which they are obliged to provide by law, which is often scant), then VISA and MasterCard would practically disappear within the decade. With apologies to anyone in the industry, good riddance ;)

spacebanana7 3y ago
Visa and Mastercard will never disappear. Banks get interchange fees, consumers get chargeback protection and merchants got a stronger final settlement than cheques. The last of those is the most important. Merchants happily ate high fees and chargeback risk in the late 20th century because cards had a lower fraud risk than cheques. No modern payment system can compete because there’s nobody willing to eat the risk for everyone else. British banks hate bank transfers because they so often are fraud liable, consumers hate crypto because they are so often fraud liable. Those various payment schemes do have use cases, but it’s hard for them to compete at a grocery store. Moreover, visa/mastercard were able to get big before payments became so important governments. This has a massive advantage in tourism and international payments. India and the EU will never be able to agree on a common payments standard to make SEPA & UPI compatible, for example.
- whstl 3y ago
  Inside Germany I can get by without Visa/Mastercard, only relying on SEPA transfers (often aided by PayPal) for online purchases and Girocard/EC-Karte on the street. But even inside the EU, as soon as I leave Germany, my Girocard has to magically become a "Maestro" card to be useable.

spacebanana7 3y ago

Visa and Mastercard will never disappear. Banks get interchange fees, consumers get chargeback protection and merchants got a stronger final settlement than cheques. The last of those is the most important. Merchants happily ate high fees and chargeback risk in the late 20th century because cards had a lower fraud risk than cheques. No modern payment system can compete because there’s nobody willing to eat the risk for everyone else. British banks hate bank transfers because they so often are fraud liable, consumers hate crypto because they are so often fraud liable. Those various payment schemes do have use cases, but it’s hard for them to compete at a grocery store. Moreover, visa/mastercard were able to get big before payments became so important governments. This has a massive advantage in tourism and international payments. India and the EU will never be able to agree on a common payments standard to make SEPA & UPI compatible, for example.

whstl 3y ago
Inside Germany I can get by without Visa/Mastercard, only relying on SEPA transfers (often aided by PayPal) for online purchases and Girocard/EC-Karte on the street. But even inside the EU, as soon as I leave Germany, my Girocard has to magically become a "Maestro" card to be useable.