[jdblair]

Offline credit card transactions are still supported, and Square even supports it in the US.

Europe use of debit cards instead of credit cards is much higher than the US.

[akmarinov]

That’s because credit card benefits suck in Europe and there’s no point to using them.

If you need credit, there are credit options with much lower rates than what credit cards offer.

And the reason credit card benefits suck is due to european interchange fee caps and regulation.

[lwhi]

So credit card benefits suck, because the consumers can't be exploited to create a large profit surplus that can partially be used to benefit a small subset of consumers.

[athrowaway3z]

Multiple reports have shown merchants are raising the costs for all consumers to cover the credit card accepting costs.

I really hope you're getting paid to pretend to be this gullible to the most basic of the credit-card companies schemes.

[immibis]

I don't know that I'd call not paying an extra 5% just to receive 1% back "sucking". It seems like a win-win to me. If you need something, pay for it (with that extra 4% saving) instead of jumping through a million hoops to pretend it's free.

[esskay]

> That’s because credit card benefits suck in Europe and there’s no point to using them.

Theres still a very good reason to use them - buyer protection.

I use a Virgin Atlantic reward card and have it set to pay off automatically, never running up debt. It both protects me as a buyer, and has the benefit of taking ~£500 off annual family holidays, and gives me a free companion seat in the process, effectively halving the price for one of the passengers.

[octo888]

Co-branded (eg Amex KLM) and business cards were/are exempt from the interchange fee cap regulation.

Though Amex are currently in dispute with the Netherlands who believe the caps do apply to them. I don't think a final judgement has been made yet.

[forgotusername6]

They are still useful for buyer protection.

[seanieb]

Credit card benefits suck in the US now too, no?