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Comment by chrisseaton | Hacker News Reader

> in Europe, there is no reason to have a credit card instead of debit

There concrete reasons to use one in Europe (at least where I live):

It's a month's free loan - why spend your own money when you can keep it invested or otherwise working for you for a month first for free?

Consumer credit law is still stronger for paying on credit than on debit.

I used to fly transatlantic first class once a year for free based on just my credit card rewards. I'm not some unusually high earner either. What possible reason is there to turn that down?

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Yeah, where I live you have exactly the same protections using credit card vs debit cards. Credit cards here don't usually have good rewards either. If you spend 10000 euros you might get 10 back in the end of the year, hardly something to hurrah for. Sometimes they give you a free TV if you open up a bank account with the bank and change to the bank to receive your monthly salary, but that's about it. So don't really have any reasons to use a credit card instead of a debit, as I only spend money I have anyways.

If I remember correctly, banks here also always give you a debit card when you sign up with them, while credit cards have to be applied for separately and also usually has a yearly fee, compared to debit cards that are free.

What do you think about the argument about it allowing you to keep your money invested for longer?

Say you're ordering something large like a car. You can pay the deposit on a debit card, and lose access to the money immediately, or you can pay on a credit card, and keep your money invested for another month or so, still earning you money, until you need to settle.

A credit card gives a consumer liquidity. I don't think it's an unusual economic concept to say that liquidity is useful and helps you use your money more efficiently.

What kind of income are you looking at for an extra month, even with a huge payment like a car (which I don't think people use credit OR debit cards for in Europe)?

I suspect for the vast majority of people it's going to be negligible at best.

I've never tried buying a car with a credit card (though my credit limits are, insanely, high enough that I could).

I would guess it might be seen as a cash advance and charged interest immediately, also not accrue into the loyalty rewards. But I don't really know.

In the UK, the biggest advantage of using a credit card for the first £100 of any purchase is that it makes the credit card provider jointly liable with the vendor for any failure in the contract. This is an awesome bit of consumer protection.

Atleast in my experience (NL, DE), a very small minority of institutions allow credit card payments. For example, online orders and food delivery. No car dealership or landlord will accept credit card, only direct debit or bank transfer.

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