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I think the problem is that the US never made the jump to instant Debit Card payments in the first place, and is still stuck with in a world of using either Cre
by bowlofpetunias 13y ago
I think the problem is that the US never made the jump to instant Debit Card payments in the first place, and is still stuck with in a world of using either Credit or cash.
In the Netherlands, cash is on the way out due to the massive adoption of instant Debit Card payments for even the smallest purchases. Merchants prefer not to handle cash because it's safer (robbing a store with no money is pointless) and cheaper (no dealing with money transports, deposits, counting the registers, having change on hand). Compared to all of that, getting card terminals is cheap.
Using the same system for Credit Cards is mostly just a side-effect of the push to eliminate cash. It's also the reason Credit Card usage isn't all that widespread in the Netherlands. They're only used for big ticket items (sparingly), on vacation and for international online purchases.
- frandroid 13y agoHuh, the U.S. has debit, what are you talking about.
- cbhl 13y agoI was under the impression that PLUS was simply used at ATMs. By comparison, many merchants in Canada accept Interac. The fees for Interac are typically rather low (IIRC, a monthly fee plus $0.50/transaction) compared to Visa/MC (some percentage of the sale, depending on risk). Debit transactions through Visa/MasterCard generally just give you the worst of both worlds (high merchant fees, and transactions affect your checking account balance instantly).
- maxerickson 13y agoThere are multiple debit networks in the U.S. I'm not sure about the fees, but I'm under the impression they are lower than credit (mostly because POS systems are set up to prefer PIN style transactions).