Comment by paulsutter | Hacker News Reader

Comment by paulsutter | Hacker News Reader

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In the US, the terms of service are much better for credit cards than debit cards, so even folks who pay off their cards every month (for example, airline miles cardholders) prefer credit cards because of superior ToS.

The terms on credit cards are expensive for issuers, so debit cards were introduced with terms more favorable to issuers. Even if they improved the terms, consumers would still be hesitant to use them because US debit cards' reputation is tainted.

Europe has much stronger consumer protections, so I can only assume EU debit cards dont share the disadvantages of US debit cards.

[Edited for balance and clarity, thanks]

  It’s so severe that even if they improved the terms, nobody would use them because US debit cards' reputation is tainted.

Say what now?

  “According to the 2019 Federal Reserve Payments Study1, “Debit cards, including both prepaid and non-prepaid, were used almost twice as often as credit cards in 2018, but the value of credit card payments exceeded the value of debit card payments by almost 30%.”

And

  In Visa’s Operational Performance Data4 report for the three months ending on Dec. 31, 2020, it reports $741 billion in U.S. debit transaction volume, a 17.4% increase over the previous year. It compares to $542 billion in credit card volume.

(Source: https://www.creditcards.com/statistics/debit-card-statistics...)

Debit cards in the US are widely used.

You need moderately good credit to get a credit card.

You only need a bank account to get a debit card. The bar is much lower.

And if you're including prepaid cards, those are handed out like candy for promotional purposes, as gifts, etc.

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