Is it possible to DDOS Visa network? Maybe someone figured out a way and they're negotiating about ransom right now.
Visa card network crashes, causing increased decline rates across UK and Europe
111–120 of 190 posts
Re: Visa card network crashes, causing increased decline rates across UK and Europe
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
every time I go back to continental Europe and suddenly have to carry around huge amounts of cash with me. Because nobody accepts cards You must be going to the wrong areas in Europe. Literally, everywhere I go (France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands in the past 6 months alone) cards are accepted.
I was visiting Amsterdam (from the UK) about a month ago and I was quite surprised (and annoyed) to find stores, even supermarkets, that have gone cashless while at the same time they would only accept Maestro.
Revolut allows you to get a prepaid Maestro that you can topup with your credit card. Exchange rates are quite good.
Re: Visa card network crashes, causing increased decline rates across UK and Europe
#113Ironically my credit card info literally got stolen at a restaurant last night and most of the purchases they tried to make were declined hahahahah Honestly, I really enjoy using my credit card. I can buy anything, anytime, online, the customer service department always resolves fraud quickly, and they even pay me to use the damn thing
I know, it seems great. But who is paying for that fraud protection? Who is paying for that customer service team? Who is paying for the fact you get paid to use it? In the end.. It's you, through slightly higher prices on everything you buy every day because retailers have to price in the cost of credit card fees that pay for all that.
That's how insurance works. Spread the damage to across many so no one gets hurt real bad.
Re: Visa card network crashes, causing increased decline rates across UK and Europe
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know, it seems great. But who is paying for that fraud protection? Who is paying for that customer service team? Who is paying for the fact you get paid to use it? In the end.. It's you, through slightly higher prices on everything you buy every day because retailers have to price in the cost of credit card fees that pay for all that.
I've seen an estimate that credit cards are actually slightly cheaper overall for the economy than cash, when you factor in everything. The physical infrastructure to deal with cash is not cheap.
Even without the physical infrastructure it might be cheaper to use credit cards. How much cash is lost in loose change after small transactions every year? I'd bet more than 2%
Re: Visa card network crashes, causing increased decline rates across UK and Europe
#115Ironically my credit card info literally got stolen at a restaurant last night and most of the purchases they tried to make were declined hahahahah Honestly, I really enjoy using my credit card. I can buy anything, anytime, online, the customer service department always resolves fraud quickly, and they even pay me to use the damn thing
> and they even pay me to use the damn thing I understand you are referring to Cashback "Rewards" but at the end of the day, a credit card is still a Loan. You are borrowing money from the company to pay for goods and services and for all legal purposes you are a debtor.
How does this matter (apart from semantics) if one pays the balance therefore doesn't accrue any interest. They are still 'getting paid', right?
Re: Visa card network crashes, causing increased decline rates across UK and Europe
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think we live in the same EU. As far as I can tell "Country-specific (debit) cards and the international Maestro payment" are only common in a couple of really backwards countries.
What do you call really backwards countries? Seems maestro cards are used in France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maestro_(debit_card)
Chiming in from Germany. Our debit cards are branded "girocard", which is to my knowledge exclusive to Germany and mostly co-branded with either Maestro or V-Pay for international payments.
Re: Visa card network crashes, causing increased decline rates across UK and Europe
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
Many online shops take SEPA direct debit, which may be superseded by SEPA instant payments in the near future.
+1 for SEPA ICT. Once that's rolled out everywhere it is really going to challenge the established online payment systems in Europe. Last time I bought something in an Austrian online shop it offered me the "eps" option which redirected me to my own onlinebanking portal after logging in the payment had only to be confrirmed with a tan and the payment confirmation from the vendor was instant. Basically the same flow a…
>Once that's rolled out everywhere it is really going to challenge the established online payment systems in Europe
Disagree. Most of the German banks that have just announced SEPA Instant are charging 0.50€-2€/transaction. No way the retailers will manage to convince the customers to pay that.
I think PSD2 with the Bank Account API (think Klarna/SOFORT) is the bigger challenger.
Re: Visa card network crashes, causing increased decline rates across UK and Europe
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've seen an estimate that credit cards are actually slightly cheaper overall for the economy than cash, when you factor in everything. The physical infrastructure to deal with cash is not cheap.
Even without the physical infrastructure it might be cheaper to use credit cards. How much cash is lost in loose change after small transactions every year? I'd bet more than 2%
Of cash used in every day transactions? Maybe.
Of cash used in bigger transactions that are replaced by credit cards? No way
Re: Visa card network crashes, causing increased decline rates across UK and Europe
#119One thing to note: Visa Europe and Visa are distinct systems[0] and were distinct entities until Visa Europe was re-acquired[1] by Visa in 2015.
[0] Source: I used to work in payments [1] https://www.visaeurope.com/newsroom/news/vi-to-acquire-ve
Re: Visa card network crashes, causing increased decline rates across UK and Europe
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
Amex is 0.5-1% cashback in Germany which is quite good. SME Visa/MasterCards still give around 1% in airline miles.
But I think Amex is very rarely accepted -- I don't own one, but judging by the "we accept these cards" labels outside stores.
I guess it depends what you are optimizing for.
Groceries is a quite big expense part for me, so REWE, Aldi and tegut in Germany are quite good for earning. Other expenses are traveling, where basically everyone accepts Amex. Starbucks accepts is as well, quite a lot of McDonalds and most fashion retailers as well.
You probably can't survive on Amex alone, but at least in Germany there is a quite big chunk that you can cover.