Credit Card chat on WAN show: do europeans hate credit cards???

[thrasher_565]

5 hours ago, Stahlmann said:

I had a credit card for 3 years. I needed it twice in this time. Once when i bought something online and i couldn't use PayPal, so credit card was the only other option. And a few months back my credit card saved my ass because i was flat out broke after a move to the point where i couldn't even afford to pay for food with my regular debit card. I could use the credit card to buy food and supplies for that month and could pay it back the next month. I think in the US using credit cards is mandatory to build credit to get better loans. This system doesn't exist where i live so if i can avoid it, i don't use it. But i will still keep the credit card because it can save my ass if i really need it and know i can pay it back.

here in canada i hink there a line of credit witch has lover fees i think for things like that. i no in the us there much harder about stuff like that thow

[Mihle]

At least here in Norway, using credit card do not improve your credit score at all, zero. But not paying back credit card loan do count negatively.

 

So there is no reason to use credit card to "build credit score". And that's how it should be.

 

Before I went back to uni my credit score was quite good and I don't use credit cards.

 

For me personally I just don't find the benefit of a credit card good enough to bother having to remember paying it back every month. And I don't like the concept of those that use it right have the slight benefit because some people don't.

[Avocado Diaboli]

21 minutes ago, Mihle said:

For me personally I just don't find the benefit of a credit card good enough to bother having to remember paying it back every month.

I do have to ask, because this seems like a problem for quite a few people, remembering to pay your bills, but how is that hard for you? Because at the end of the month, I get a credit card bill directly to my e-banking portal with an email notification that I have a new unpaid bill in my portal. I log into the e-banking portal of my bank, download the PDF bill for archival purposes and to check if any transactions on that bill seem fraudulent and if everything is ok (which it has always been in the over a decade I've had my credit cards) click the "pay" button, which automatically schedules a bank transaction on the due date. I can do that from my phone even, so whenever I get an email notification of a new bill, I just quickly log in, make sure everything is ok and then immediately schedule the payment. 

[Mihle]

1 hour ago, Avocado Diaboli said:

I do have to ask, because this seems like a problem for quite a few people, remembering to pay your bills, but how is that hard for you? Because at the end of the month, I get a credit card bill directly to my e-banking portal with an email notification that I have a new unpaid bill in my portal. I log into the e-banking portal of my bank, download the PDF bill for archival purposes and to check if any transactions on that bill seem fraudulent and if everything is ok (which it has always been in the over a decade I've had my credit cards) click the "pay" button, which automatically schedules a bank transaction on the due date. I can do that from my phone even, so whenever I get an email notification of a new bill, I just quickly log in, make sure everything is ok and then immediately schedule the payment. 

To be fair I don't have much bills yet, and those that I have is auto draw with fixed amount. And its a long time (years) since I checked how credit cards spesifically worked in that way, so might have changed.

 

But the benefit of credit card is still so small, except for very spesific things its like 1% money back or 3% saving on fuel that I don't buy anyway....

[Fluph]

I don't think anyone has mentioned but the biggest advantage (certainly in the UK) of CC's is their protection.
All of my online purchases, plus anything over £100, is on CC.

In the UK we have section 75. 
By law the credit card company has equal liability with the seller if there’s a problem with your purchase or the company you’ve bought them from goes bust.
You are covered from £100 - £30,000.

No reason NOT to use a CC in the UK (no idea what protection exists in other countries)

I have had to use this before and the CC company refunded the full amount while they went after the dodgy seller. 

[GeoStellar]

Perspective of a tourist who has only visited one European Country.

 

As an American who visits Ireland yearly and has family who live in Ireland, I haven't had any issues using visa or Mastercard over in Ireland, the networks are there and work well.  From the general observations I have made though, most of the plastic payment i have seen used seem to be more in the style of debit cards instead of credit cards.  By this, I mean cards that are backed by a banking institution and are tied to a checking style and not a general financial institution.

 

That being said, My research into this subject is limited, But plastic is alive and well for use in Ireland.