What? Almost everyone has a debit card and credit cards are very normal. I found some stats:
https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/people_with_credit...
50-60% is not rare. And presumably they didn't specifically require credit cards rather than debit cards, which are even more common.
Additionally, just because we have credit cards doesn't mean we use them in daily life. SEPA based payments work out far better.
[1] https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/people_with_credit...
I concur, using credit cards is rather dangerous, especially online and in app forms for both buyer and seller alike [6].
>SEPA based payments work out far better
Indeed, but since recently (2018?) European banks couldn't confiscate your money on a whim, like the US credit card companies did for decades. Now European banks do too, just like PayPal [4].
Enshittfication was first coined by Cory Doctorrow [3] here [2] and it applies everywhere now [1].
[1] https://www.ft.com/content/6fb1602d-a08b-4a8c-bac0-047b7d64a...
[2] https://doctorow.medium.com/social-quitting-1ce85b67b456
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification
[4] https://emerchantauthority.com/blog/what-to-do-if-your-paypa....
[5] https://hn.algolia.com/?q=freeze+bank
[6] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
Your link is about chargeback. I'm pretty much exclusively using credit cards for daily payment and I can't even remember the last time I got any problems. I never pay interest either.
I get that you don't like or trust credit card, and it isn't popular in Europe, but don't be generalizing. Even in Europe my credit cards work well, except for the unpopularity of Amex.
I do not get why people insist on defending the credit card companies and their ungoing enshittification and changing rules and laws[1]. I would prefer you refuting my central argument[2].
Credit card laws and rules have many more problems than just chargebacks. For two decades online payment webpages stole credit card numbers and stole money from people. I could list many more documented cases.
Elsewhere someone argues that debit cards are not credit cards. I agree. Of course Starlink forms reject debit cards too.
[1] https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/when-company-declines-your...
In this case, it's better than debit cards as you are not out of money until the bank reverts the fraudulent charge.
Now with 3DS this is way better, but I am way wearier of using my debit card number online (so I generate temporary cards) compared to credit - if they steal the card number, there is no problem.
Are European debit cards maybe somehow different than US ones, and the experience differs between the two?
Sure does! Just signed up with BBVA some months ago and got a Visa debit card from them called "Aqua". https://www.bbva.es/en/personas/productos/tarjetas/tarjeta-d...
The only places I've found that only accept credit cards are hotels.
For many things they do, but I'd never order from an new/semi-reputable company online via SEPA credit transfer, and for analogous reasons a company would never accept SEPA direct debit from unknown customers.
If you have a credit card but don't want to use it for an uncertain online pre-order of a new product, what do you use it for?
I have credit and debit cards. Basically no point in using the credit card, so I only use it for emergencies when nothing else works, which has been exactly once in my life so far, and that was in Mexico. In Spain (home) / around Europe I've never had an issue with my debit card, so it's what I keep using everywhere.
What I meant was: Why use SEPA credit transfer (or more generally any other payment method without a dispute process) if you don't trust the merchant?