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Comment by DangerousPie | Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure about "luckily". Sure, today it might be a good thing, but 99.99% of the time it's just a massive inconvenience.

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The european debit card systems are not comparable with how it works in the US. In the US I will use credit cards, because that is the better system down there. Over here in Europe, I'll hardly ever use a credit card.

So yes, luckily.

This is not true for all of Europe. Here in the UK everything works through Visa/Mastercard, whether it's your credit card or your normal "bank card" (debit card).

I really miss this system every time I go back to continental Europe and suddenly have to carry around huge amounts of cash with me. Because nobody accepts cards, and even if they do it's usually only Maestro etc.

every time I go back to continental Europe and suddenly have to carry around huge amounts of cash with me. Because nobody accepts cards

You must be going to the wrong areas in Europe. Literally, everywhere I go (France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands in the past 6 months alone) cards are accepted.

I was in Berlin recently and not only did public transport ticket machines not accept cards, they didn't even accept notes. Coins only. In London you just tap your credit card. And many smaller cafes and shops didn't accept cards either. Or if they did, only the Maestro ones that don't really exist outside Germany.

I was visiting Amsterdam (from the UK) about a month ago and I was quite surprised (and annoyed) to find stores, even supermarkets, that have gone cashless while at the same time they would only accept Maestro.

Revolut allows you to get a prepaid Maestro that you can topup with your credit card. Exchange rates are quite good.

Is it Maestro though? They used to issue MasterCard, and it's all Visa now.

You can get an additional Maestro.

Yup, regular Visa.

Contactless payments have finally rolled out in most discounters/supermarkets and drugstores in Germany, it's a godsend. Just tap the card and the receipt starts printing in 3-5 seconds.

But yeah for other stores and restaurants, better have cash.

I've lived for many years in both places and don't remember difference in convenience. Can you detail?

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