Re:Why Germans pay cash for almost everything
by jhasse on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @02:23PM
(#14960901)
But ... what if you lose your card??
I guess Germans are generally very precautious and wouldn't trust contactless debit cards.
Re:Why Germans pay cash for almost everything
by gregmac on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @02:54PM
(#14961242)
This is also why I prefer using credit over debit cards: with credit, a fraudulent transaction (before being cleared) is merely decreasing my available funds (and because I generally pay off my balance monthly, this has zero impact on my life). With debit, the money comes out of my account, and only once a fraud investigation is complete do I get my money back.
Contactless cards also typically have a per-transaction limit in the area of $100~$200, so the amount of damage someone can do without the PIN and before you cancel the card is quite limited. I actually wouldn't be surprised if you do too many transactions in a certain period of time it would ask you to do a PIN transaction.
Re:Why Germans pay cash for almost everything
by sliverstorm on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @02:42PM
(#14961101)
Well, cards can be canceled and fraudulent payments reversed. The same can't be said of cash.
Every cashier in Germany (provided they accepted cards in the first place) insisted on "taking" my card, sticking it in the machine for a non-contactless payment, then hand me the machine so I can enter the PIN, then take back the machine, wait for the transaction to finish and then remove the card from the machine and hand me back my card. If that's the standard card-experience, I can imagine why you think cash is quicker...
(At one shop I saw the machine accepted contactless; before the cashier could take my card I quickly paid contactless. The cashier was 50% flabbergasted and 50% upset and seriously doubted I actually paid, until the receipt rolled out to prove it).