Hacker News Reader

Comment by michaelmior | Hacker News Reader

> Right now, the only thing that makes credit cards a better proposition is being able to pay without having enough money in the bank, and maybe enjoying greater protection from fraudulent merchants.

Rewards is another big one and the reason I personally prefer to use credit cards where possible.

View on HN

Rewards exist because credit card transaction fees to merchants are very high, though. Europe put a limit on those fees and no credit card rewards exist here.

Interesting you're saying that, because my usage model is: US credit cards w/reward points, in Europe. The cards I use have no currency exchange fees, and very good transaction rates (€ to $), so other than the unavoidable (majority of my money being in the US) ups and downs of value of $ vs € (great up to six months ago, degrading since the arrival of the new admin in the US) I get the best of both worlds, i.e. European lower COL, and rewards and services (e.g. car rentals and insurance, flights, hotels, etc.) from use of US credit cards.

Sure, but for those of us in North America, it's still a draw. That said, I can see that the consumer would potentially be better off if fees went down, prices dropped, and rewards went away. But that's probably not a realistic future.

The unfortunate reality is that even if fees disappeared tomorrow, most merchants would just keep the current price and pocket all the extra money as profit.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com