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Comment by hobo_mark | Hacker News Reader

Is any of this (realistically) applicable if you are european? We're still reluctant to use credit cards at all here.

I use a British Airways branded Amex here in the UK and put almost all my spending through it. Thanks to their Companion Voucher my wife and I get a couple of business class trips on the house each year (Spend £10k in a year on it and get a Buy one get one free flight with points)

I guess this is not going to help you much, but for any Swedish or Scandinavian people that are interested in these kinds of things - there's http://www.businessclass.se/.

It's basically a Swedish/Scandinavian "FlyerTalk" community. One part editorial and many parts community/forum.

You can start using credit cards.

Not to pay rent, and I spend very little on anything else.

Then probably not. A lot (though not all) of this is predicated on meeting significant minimum spend levels on co-branded credit cards and gift cards. In fact, for many/most people, a lot of this makes sense only if a lot of reimbursed expenses flow through a personal credit card.

It's pretty atypical to pay rent via credit card (without insane unjustifiable fees) in the US too.

Not quite so! At least for Sweden, you can use https://www.betalo.se/ to pay any bill - like your rent. Some credit card companies partner with 'em and waive the fees. (I'm not affiliated with Betalo or any Credit Card company what so ever)

Also, let me remind everyone that Europe is not super small either. There's a lot of diversity. In the Nordic parts, people basically only use debit/credit cards for example. For good and bad, cash is getting rarer here.

You don't buy food? Furniture? Car? Bicycle? Computer?

Food of course (~200$/mo), and travel (but usually my employer pays for it, if they send me somewhere worth it I will take a few days off before coming back).

If I could 'hack' an extra return flight to SF, NY or Tokyo once a year it'd be great however.

I update my phone and laptop every five years or so. Bike is free.

In Germany at least, food and groceries is almost exclusively in cash. I come from another part of Europe, I find it very strange and annoying sometimes.

By the way, if anyone knows of a good way to rack up miles with Star alliance/Lufthansa, I'd love to know.

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