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Is there information on EU vs US credit limits? How do the account fees compare between EU and US?
by itake 1y ago
Is there information on EU vs US credit limits?
How do the account fees compare between EU and US?
- cbzoiav 1y agoMost credit cards in the UK at least (same cap) have no standard account fee. Those that do come with other perks / beyond the 'world elite' etc side Mastercard/visa aren't seeing that money - its going to the issuing bank. Bank accounts also generaly have no standard fees (and a lot of other things we take forgranted - faster payments (if I send money to a friend/business I can do it instantly for free without needing a third party solution), standing orders, direct debit etc. - that make banking far easier than in the US). There is also regulation in place that restricts predatory fee practices, getting customers into revolving debt and protection that makes card issuers liable for purchases (Section 75 - e.g. if I order something paying with my credit card and the merchant doesn't pay, the card issuer is legally liable / I can claim from them and its on them to get it from the merchant)
- alexriddle 1y agoOther than Amex for airline points I don’t spend a penny on banking, all the standard services (eg transfers, bill payments, cash withdrawals, deposits) are free (in the U.K.) with no monthly fee.
- lillecarl 1y agoI pay 3€ per month to "Nordea" for "unlimited" accounts and one VISA debit card.
- carlosjobim 1y agoMy banks pays me more than that per month to use their debit cards.
- lillecarl 1y agoSo are you the product at your bank or why would they pay you to use their services?
- carlosjobim 1y agoFractional reserve banking. Banks would even pay interest on money you had in your account in times past. And then the fact that banks and card companies are charging merchants a fee for transactions and have margin to give back some of those fees to the customers.
- lillecarl 1y agoI still get interest, it's really bad though. And the transaction fees are very low here (someone said 0.2% but I don't know) which should cover a lot of infrastructure, fraud and such.
- carlosjobim 1y agoTransaction fees have a great variation depending on which contract the business has with banks or payment providers. It's not a set percentage for a country. For example a large retailer with a huge number of transactions per day will have a deal for the lowest fees possible, and then those fees differ if the card is credit or debit, national or foreign, and between standard or premium cards, and private or business cards. If you have a job, your bank should give you a premium card and then you will get cash back instead of having to pay your bank. If your bank doesn't offer this, it's just a matter of switching to any European bank of your preference.
- lillecarl 1y agoI don't know, my bank gives me good exchange rates, their online banking is well integrated into Swedish society, they issue my online ID even. I'm not spending enough on my card to go through the hoops, I just have a peasant VISA debit and a free MasterCard CC and I'm happy with the setup.
- TMWNN 1y ago>Is there information on EU vs US credit limits? I would be very interested in this as well. My understanding is that cashback cards of the type we have everywhere in the US (e.g. Amazon Amex = 5% back on Amazon purchases, Wells Fargo Active Cash = 2% back on everything) don't exist elsewhere. Another example: I just earned $1000 from Chase Sapphire as a new customer bonus for diverting $5K of the spending I would do elsewhere on that card over three months.
- Detrytus 1y agoThat's just your bank giving back some (but not all) of those 2+% interchange fees. Basically, in EU you have low fees, so credit cards are boring, they offer almost zero perks (because there's no money to finance those). No one really cares about what brand of card they get, only about their credit limit. In the US you are charged high fees on every purchase, and then the bank uses your own money to bribe you, or encourage particular types of (excessive) spending, or just make you addicted to credit card debt.
- TMWNN 1y ago>That's just your bank giving back some (but not all) of those 2% interchange fees. On the contrary, for someone like me who pays off my balances each month, if I get 2% back for every transaction, I am breaking even on those fees if assuming that I pay 100% of the fees, which of course isn't true; the merchant pays some of that. So really, I come out slightly ahead. For something like the Amex I mentioned with its 5% back on Amazon, I am coming out well ahead. > and then the bank uses your own money to bribe you, or encourage particular types of (excessive) spending, or just make you addicted to credit card debt. Oh, good grief. So EU credit card companies don't do this? I had no idea they offered cards purely as a charitable venture. I love how you stacked up all those sins just on the US side. Keep this sort of /r/AmericaBad nonsense out of HN.
- Detrytus 1y ago> So EU credit card companies don't do this? No, as I said, they don't because of the interchange fees limit: they simply don't have money to finance any perks. Sometimes you get travel insurance, with the card that charges 200 EUR annual fee, sometimes you get some rewards program, where you collect the points, but those points are typically valued at 0.0001 cent, so no one really bothers earning them. Credit cards in Europe are really boring, commodity products, not status symbols or coupon books. > assuming that I pay 100% of the fees, which of course isn't true; the merchant pays some of that. You are paying that one way or the other: merchant will pass their fees on you by raising prices.
- laurencerowe 1y agoI was really surprised that it was normal to have account fees in the US. In the UK banking is free, at least until you hit an overdraft charge. They even made Bank ATMs fee free whatever bank you are with around 2000 (non bank ATMs still have a charge.)