3 ms·

Bank ('debit') cards in France kinda work like US credit cards. The bank will happily let your account balance go negative and then charge you fees+high interes

by cedsav 18y ago

Bank ('debit') cards in France kinda work like US credit cards. The bank will happily let your account balance go negative and then charge you fees+high interest rate. I've been in the US 7 years and I haven't quite yet understood why credit cards companies and banks are separate entities. (regulation?)

jackowayed 18y ago
If I had to guess, I'd say it's probably just because that's how it always has been. Bank accounts where you put your money and loans have always been separate. So when credit cards came around, it probably wasn't an existing bank saying "maybe we'll let people go negative and then charge them huge interest"; it was a separate entity offering people what essentially is a way to be conveniently loaned money. They probably just never integrated into 1 entity. There may be regulation as well, but none that I know.
enqk 18y ago
French banks usually give a (small) credit line above which deposits must stay (interest-free). Below it you pay the full fledged interest rate + fee. The debit cards tend to debit your purchases at the end of the month too. So in the usual case, within the credit line, it is financed by fees rather than interests. However credit cards do exist, even if they have been maligned for a long time in media: Major credit card issuers in France are often linked to the retail sector (see http://www.pass.fr http://www.pass.fr) .. others got consolidated into traditional banks (cetelem for example) The traditionally French "no permanent credit" model for banks tend to raise fees and favour low deposits I guess. In both cases anyway the banks pray on the poor / moderately poor people to "dress them up" with all sorts of products and credits they don't need. (And arguably, that society pays up after 30 years)

3 ms·

Bank ('debit') cards in France kinda work like US credit cards. The bank will happily let your account balance go negative and then charge you fees+high interes

by cedsav 18y ago

jackowayed 18y ago
If I had to guess, I'd say it's probably just because that's how it always has been. Bank accounts where you put your money and loans have always been separate. So when credit cards came around, it probably wasn't an existing bank saying "maybe we'll let people go negative and then charge them huge interest"; it was a separate entity offering people what essentially is a way to be conveniently loaned money. They probably just never integrated into 1 entity. There may be regulation as well, but none that I know.
enqk 18y ago
French banks usually give a (small) credit line above which deposits must stay (interest-free). Below it you pay the full fledged interest rate + fee. The debit cards tend to debit your purchases at the end of the month too. So in the usual case, within the credit line, it is financed by fees rather than interests. However credit cards do exist, even if they have been maligned for a long time in media: Major credit card issuers in France are often linked to the retail sector (see http://www.pass.fr http://www.pass.fr) .. others got consolidated into traditional banks (cetelem for example) The traditionally French "no permanent credit" model for banks tend to raise fees and favour low deposits I guess. In both cases anyway the banks pray on the poor / moderately poor people to "dress them up" with all sorts of products and credits they don't need. (And arguably, that society pays up after 30 years)