Nobody wrote:
In article (Neil Williams) writes:
I found a (Visa)
debit card to be an extremely convenient way of paying just over
gbp7,000 for a car a few years ago, certainly compared to the risk of
cash or the cost and inconvenience of a banker's cheque.
Also credit cards are limited in the maximum amount and I think those
gbp7,000 would exceed my limit.
Note moreover that in the Netherlands most people do not have credit
cards for two of reasons:
(1) It costs money to get a credit card
Costs to "get" a credit card?
(2) It is possible that a retailer asks you to pay more if you pay
by credit card
Pay more to use a cr card for a transaction?
Lordy, in North America, both scenarios would lead to loud guffaws,
and protests along the lines of.. "you want my business?".
Those were exactly my reactions. In the US, while a few cards (notably
AmEx) charge an annual fee, most don't and there are many where the bank
pays _you_ for having and using the card (usually a rebate of 1-2% of
purchases, if you pay your full balance each month). Store cards will
often give you 3-12 months to pay with no interest.
I get the impression that folks in Europe only get credit cards from the
bank that they have checking/savings accounts with. That is rare in the
US; most people get a debit/ATM card linked to their checking account,
but get their credit cards from another bank and use checks to pay the
bills. Debit cards are also relatively recent here, having been
introduced in the 90s to fight retail check fraud, while credit cards
were introduced decades earlier.
It's also illegal for US merchants to charge _more_ for using a credit
card, though they're allowed to offer a discount off the posted price if
you pay with cash.
Another major difference I'm sensing is transaction limits. My debit
card has daily limits of USD 500 for ATM and USD 1000 for ATM+POS, which
seems to be typical. In contrast, credit cards will generally let you
charge up to your credit line in a single day, and that could be
thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.
S