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Digital euro clears key hurdle as EU seeks to break free from U.S. credit cards

finance.yahoo.com

191–200 of 386 posts

Re: Digital euro clears key hurdle as EU seeks to break free from U.S. credit cards

#191
post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Banks suck it up, but fraud is likely a lot less prevalent because 3D Secure is mandatory for online transactions and chip and PIN were ubiquitous way before the US seemed to have started using it.

The US still hasn't started using PINs for all credit and most debit transactions, and at this point it doesn't look like it ever will. Apple and Google Pay are just as (if not more) secure anyway for the majority of transactions, and a long tail of US restaurants, hotels, corporate card issuers, rental car agencies etc. will simply never change their legacy flows. There are just too many incumbent stakeholders.

It’s a pity that US regulators can’t manage to mandate that the dinosaurs get with the times as fraud seems to me to be an enormous burden to US consumers.

Even if fraud victims get their money back, firstly it must be an admin headache and then merchants have to cover fraud losses/insurance costs and thus mark up all their prices to make sure they do, so everyone is subsidising the fraudsters.

I presume it’s lobbying that would/does thwart any attempts at any such regulation.

As someone outside of the US I would like to be able to largely ignore this problem as just affecting people over there, but unfortunately it spills into the rest of the world.

When I last had fraud on my card it was through an online US merchant, because, like most US online merchants, they don’t use 3D secure. If they did then blocking the transaction for me would have been as simple as pressing the “it’s fraud” option when my phone would have received a “do you want to allow this transaction of $X for Y in the US?” that my bank’s 3D secure system normally sends to me.

Hopefully Apple and Google Pay will eventually help things over there.

Re: Digital euro clears key hurdle as EU seeks to break free from U.S. credit cards

#192
post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't go into debt if you don't have a line of credit.

If one is capable of managing one's finances (and paying the card off in full every month), credit cards are a useful tool. They're a problem if one can't manage one's finances.

It is interesting that both options of either not using CC entirely or using CC but paying it off by the end of the month are equivalent, but you’ve somehow reframe the second ine as some virtuous skill one have to master (I’m not just buying bread, I’m also managing my finances by repaying the value of it in full by the end of the month to avoid being charged for interest and simultaneously improving my credit score).

Business model of banks in regard to CC are preying on people not paying it all in full for various reasons.

Re: Digital euro clears key hurdle as EU seeks to break free from U.S. credit cards

#193
post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an outsider: which countries lean which way? I'm curious how things trend where and I didn't even really know that debit was used by a majority in certain places (Countries? Regions? Historical based delimiters?).

Germany is very debit-card oriented (with no interest of switching). The Netherlands seems similar. Eastern Europe and the Balkans are also mostly debit-card oriented, but people seem more open to switching to credit cards (if they can get one - especially the younger generation). Ireland and the U.K. seem much more credit-card oriented than rest of Europe. Turkey is also very CC oriented (kinda strange - was not exp…

In the UK people predominantly use debit cards but credit cards are widely available. Everyone gets a debit card with any current account (i.e. non-savings account). In March this year there were 2.3 billion debit card transactions vs 400 million credit card transactions according to this:

https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/data-and-research/data/card-spe...

Re: Digital euro clears key hurdle as EU seeks to break free from U.S. credit cards

#194
post #5

> giving Union citizens the freedom to opt to pay with central bank money Because nothing speaks freedom more than a crazily centralized digital currency /s

> crazily centralized digital currency

Boy, will you be pissed when you learn about non-digital currency!

Re: Digital euro clears key hurdle as EU seeks to break free from U.S. credit cards

#195
post #171
post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a prevalent view among the lower socioeconomic classes.

Among the middle and higher as well.

The problem as I see it is that you pay your credit card bill only once a month which gives you no bearing on your effective balance. This is mostly a problem for lower and middle income people who live from paycheck to paycheck.

Re: Digital euro clears key hurdle as EU seeks to break free from U.S. credit cards

#196
post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an outsider: which countries lean which way? I'm curious how things trend where and I didn't even really know that debit was used by a majority in certain places (Countries? Regions? Historical based delimiters?).

Germany is very debit-card oriented (with no interest of switching). The Netherlands seems similar. Eastern Europe and the Balkans are also mostly debit-card oriented, but people seem more open to switching to credit cards (if they can get one - especially the younger generation). Ireland and the U.K. seem much more credit-card oriented than rest of Europe. Turkey is also very CC oriented (kinda strange - was not exp…

It used to be like that in Germany, it changed quite a bit. My debit card now is refused more often than my master card when I’m in Germany. I do tend to stay in large cities and not in the country side though, so my perspective is not a statistic.

But it definitely changed massively during Covid. Before Covid shops refusing _any_ card where still common (again, large cities is my spectrum) and debit card were accepted vastly more often than credit card.

Re: Digital euro clears key hurdle as EU seeks to break free from U.S. credit cards

#198
post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If one is capable of managing one's finances (and paying the card off in full every month), credit cards are a useful tool. They're a problem if one can't manage one's finances.

It is interesting that both options of either not using CC entirely or using CC but paying it off by the end of the month are equivalent, but you’ve somehow reframe the second ine as some virtuous skill one have to master (I’m not just buying bread, I’m also managing my finances by repaying the value of it in full by the end of the month to avoid being charged for interest and simultaneously improving my credit score…

Financially, they're not equivalent. If you buy your bread on credit, you get an interest-free loan, and benefit from the time value of the money that you otherwise would have paid immediately. As you correctly point out, this value comes from those fleeced by the arrangement. If my comment attributed any moral valence to the two options, that was unintentional.

Re: Digital euro clears key hurdle as EU seeks to break free from U.S. credit cards

#199
post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an outsider: which countries lean which way? I'm curious how things trend where and I didn't even really know that debit was used by a majority in certain places (Countries? Regions? Historical based delimiters?).

Germany is very debit-card oriented (with no interest of switching). The Netherlands seems similar. Eastern Europe and the Balkans are also mostly debit-card oriented, but people seem more open to switching to credit cards (if they can get one - especially the younger generation). Ireland and the U.K. seem much more credit-card oriented than rest of Europe. Turkey is also very CC oriented (kinda strange - was not exp…

In Ireland and the UK, from experience, people use debit cards a lot more than credit cards.

Re: Digital euro clears key hurdle as EU seeks to break free from U.S. credit cards

#200

How does digital euro replace credit cards? That's basically the same as direct debit. It doesn't address the reason why I use credit cards. I use credit cards as a proxy for my bank accounts. I know that my issuing bank will protect me from all fraud so I don't have to worry about losing money if I buy something from a fraudulent merchant. I also know I can do things like chargebacks if I have to. None of this is ad…

In EU most people use direct debit. The term "credit card" is almost synonymous with debit. Chargebacks theoretically exists but they are more complicated, I don't know anyone who ever did that.

Where do you live in Europe? This has simply not been my experience at all in France, Germany, UK, Italy and Spain so far. Online shops most of all don’t take debit at all and bricks and mortar shops will accept credit more often than debit. Again, my experience. And I prefer to pay with debit because I know the shop will pay less fees. I get refused at Starbucks, random shops in train stations, etc.
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