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

On Sat, 28 Jun 2008 15:39:45 -0500, Stephen Sprunk
wrote:

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.

In the UK, it's usual for there to be a daily limit for ATM (250 quid
springs to mind for mine, and you can have them reduced - many
students living in bad areas do this to reduce the impact if they get
mugged and taken at knifepoint to the ATM), but it's not usual for
there to be a POS hard-limit, just an unpublished and potentially
variable one at which a transaction might be "referred" to confirm it
is genuine.

With credit cards, however, we're closer to the US - my main card pays
me 0.5% to use it, and there is no annual fee. In the UK it is
similarly unusual for there to be a monthly charge for a current
account other than those with bundled premium services; some (like
mine) even pay credit interest. The way the money is made is by way
of charges and interest for those who overdraw their accounts or
borrow on credit cards.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

On Sat, 28 Jun 2008 15:39:45 -0500, Stephen Sprunk
wrote:

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.

Ah, my "convenience card" (i.e. in my case, Canadian Imperial Bank of
Commerce's ATM access and credit card) limits me to $1,000/day
withdrawal from my chequing account, but also allows me to bill up to
$11,000 in a "single transaction" to my credit card account.

I guess I'm a trusted client... but I still do not have, nor want,
debit card access.


In the UK, it's usual for there to be a daily limit for ATM (250 quid
springs to mind for mine, and you can have them reduced - many
students living in bad areas do this to reduce the impact if they get
mugged and taken at knifepoint to the ATM), but it's not usual for
there to be a POS hard-limit, just an unpublished and potentially
variable one at which a transaction might be "referred" to confirm it
is genuine.

With credit cards, however, we're closer to the US - my main card pays
me 0.5% to use it, and there is no annual fee. In the UK it is
similarly unusual for there to be a monthly charge for a current
account other than those with bundled premium services; some (like
mine) even pay credit interest. The way the money is made is by way
of charges and interest for those who overdraw their accounts or
borrow on credit cards.

Neil

In message , at 15:39:45 on Sat,
28 Jun 2008, Stephen Sprunk remarked:
I get the impression that folks in Europe only get credit cards from
the bank that they have checking/savings accounts with.

I don't get that impression at all. Especially as many of the more
aggressively marketed cards are not associated with conventional banks.

(eg Egg, Goldfish, Capital One etc).
--
Roland Perry

On Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:37:39 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message , at 15:39:45 on Sat,
28 Jun 2008, Stephen Sprunk remarked:
I get the impression that folks in Europe only get credit cards from
the bank that they have checking/savings accounts with.

I don't get that impression at all. Especially as many of the more
aggressively marketed cards are not associated with conventional banks.

(eg Egg,Citigroup

Goldfish,

Barclays Bank

Capital One etc).

In message , at 23:47:11 on
Sat, 28 Jun 2008, Charles Ellson remarked:
I get the impression that folks in Europe only get credit cards from
the bank that they have checking/savings accounts with.

I don't get that impression at all. Especially as many of the more
aggressively marketed cards are not associated with conventional banks.

(eg Egg,Citigroup

Goldfish,

Barclays Bank

Yes, it is now owned by Barclays, but previously by Lloyds TSB, and it
is not "associated" with Barclays current accounts, in the same way that
Barclaycard is. And especially not when originally launched 15 years ago
by the "Goldfish Bank".

(The same is true of Morgan Stanley Cards; launched independently,
transferred to Goldfish Bank, itself now owned by Barclays).

Capital One etc).

--
Roland Perry

On Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:37:39 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

I don't get that impression at all. Especially as many of the more
aggressively marketed cards are not associated with conventional banks.

(eg Egg, Goldfish, Capital One etc).

I think what he said can be applied to mainland Europe, though. The
UK seems to be half-way between the US and mainland Europe in banking
terms, as it also is on many political issues.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

On Sat, 28 Jun 2008 15:39:45 -0500, Stephen Sprunk
wrote:

I get the impression that folks in Europe only get credit cards from the
bank that they have checking/savings accounts with.

That's not now the case in the UK, though it probably was 20 years
ago. In general it's much easier to pick and choose different
financial products from different banks than was once the case. And
there are now numerous credit cards promoted as stand-alone products,
not linked to a particular bank account, whereas the earliest British
credit cards - Access (MasterCard) and Barclaycard (Visa) - were
marketed by banks to their existing customers.

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.

I doubt many people in Britain still use cheques to pay their credit
card bills, in preference to instructing bill payments by phone or
Internet.

Martin

I doubt many people in Britain still use cheques to pay their credit
card bills, in preference to instructing bill payments by phone or
Internet.


Haven't written a cheque in donkey's years.



--
Cheers

Roger T.
Home of the Great Eastern Railway at:-
http://www.highspeedplus.com/~rogertra/
Latitude: 48° 25' North
Longitude: 123° 21' West

In message net.com,
at 09:56:56 on Mon, 30 Jun 2008, Roger T.
remarked:
Haven't written a cheque in donkey's years.

You can't have a child doing school trips. Even putting those aside, I
write probably ten cheques a month.
--
Roland Perry