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Comment by adev_ | Hacker News Reader

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adev_

> TIL: Credit cards are banned in Europe. /s

They are not banned. They are heavily regulated in many European countries.

In several of them:

- Cashback systems are simply banned.

- Credit card are by default Debit Card. The credit option need to be opt-in.

- Credit Card payments spread over several months are discouraged or simply banned by default.

Credit cards are also much more rare.

With an average of ~1 Credit Card per inhabitant in some countries. Where the US average is ~4 Credit Card per inhabitant.

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> Credit card are by default Debit Card

Credit cards are credit cards, even in Europe. It's just that banks issue debit cards, rather than credit cards and I think that the point. You're financial business in much of the EU is between you and your bank, not some third party credit card company. The debit cards rides on top of the networks built by VISA and MasterCard (and others) for the credit card industry, but the actual financials are between you and your bank. The bank doesn't want you to owe the credit card companies money, they want you to owe them money, but that's normally done using a loan or allow overdraft of your account.

I really think the difference is in the banks and their involvement. Now I'm not suggestions that EU banks are awesome and cuddly entities, but they are more regulated and easily replaceable within many EU country. E.g. switching banks is really not a problem it takes a few days and you don't have to do anything.

> Credit cards are credit cards, even in Europe. It's just that banks issue debit cards, rather than credit cards and I think that the point

Partially but not exactly.

France "CB" are labelled "Visa" (not Visa Debit nor V-Pay) or "MasterCard" (Not Maestro nor MasterCard debit).

Their interchange system will make these card accepted mostly everywhere where Credit Card are accepted.

They are accepted even where Visa Debit or MasterCard Debit are refused (e.g Airlines ticket, Car Rental, Some Hotel booking).

And still they are all debit cards by default with instant payment taken from your bank account.

In Sweden you can apply for a credit card directly through the bank. And aren't credit card companies separated from the bank everywhere?

> And aren't credit card companies separated from the bank everywhere?

Do you mean in Europe? Because that is not the case in the US and India. While there are credit card companies, most banks issue credit cards themselves.

Credit card use varies substantially amongst European countries. In countries such as Norway, Switzerland, Finland, and the UK, more than 60% of the adult population has a credit card. And it's more than 55% in Germany, Austria, Spain, and Italy[1]

Cash-back credit cards are rare in the UK and Europe not because of bans, but simply because of the interchange fee caps which don't leave enough margin for card companies to offer them.

> "Credit Card payments spread over several months are discouraged or simply banned"

Really? What country "bans" this?

[1] https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/people_with_credit...

with credit cards =/= using the card regularly

> - Cashback systems are simply banned.

The fees are so heavily restricted EU wide that cashbacks are generally infeasible even where they are legal (I hadn't know they were banned in some countries) (e.g. I have card with a effective 0.2% cashback (in gift cards), it used to be 1-2% back in 2014).

4 Credit cards per inhabitants ?

Does everyone have multiple bank accounts ?

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