Credit Cards

[Avleen Vig]

On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 2:18 PM, Abigail <abigail at abigail.be> wrote:
> The problem is the protocol between the retailer and the banks. There
> are differences in different countries. So you cannot use your
> ATM card for retail payment outside of your country. But this
> is going to change by the end of next year. See for instance
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area.

Almost, yes.
There is good interchange between North America and the UK at least.

>> So I applied for a credit card (and got it, with a credit limit 4
>> times higher than I actually wanted) - and lo, six months later the
>> bank re-issued my Maestro as a Visa Debit....
>
> There are a lot of places in .nl where I can pay with an ATM card, but
> I cannot use a credit card. The costs for a retailer when the customer
> pays with an ATM card is only a few cents - far less than a credit card
> payment. Furthermore, if I pay with an ATM card, money is transferred
> immediately.

Indeed. This is why some retailers offer incentives for people to pay
by ATM (Ikea offers some % off in the US), and the banks offer things
like cash back for paying by credit :)