In Australia (Afterpay's home market), credit card merchant fees are tightly regulated (<1% for most transactions AFAIK), so 'cash-back' offers like the US don't exist.

Airline/Frequent Flyer point conversions similarly got nerfed, so much so it's better to cycle cards (credit worthiness permitting) every year to get a point bonus up front (e.g 200K points for spending $X000 in the first 3 months) than trying to earn that amount.

That's not the main benefit of using a credit card. The primary benefit of a CC is decoupling it from your bank account - if there is an issue, CC company will fight the charge for you and almost always side on your side.

I bought a pair of speakers costing $2500. I tried to reach to the company for a return but no one would answer. No phone, no email, nada. 1 month return deadline was coming up and I called American Express. Within literally 10 mins (no wait at all), I filed a claim and was done with it. 60 days later, I got the money back. Turns out that they couldn't reach them either.

Credit cards are more consumer centric than merchant centric and they're a huge boon to otherwise rampant asshole behavior from merchants. I also run an online shop and its a pain in the neck when someome files a charge-back, we just consider it as part of the cost of doing business.

In last 20 or so years of using an AMEX card, I've filed half a dozen charge backs. It's an amazing company, it's better than any other CC company in my opinion. They also have one of the highest fees and it shows why - their customer service is absolutely top notch - red carpet, the works.

Then why not us debit card? Chargebacks are also available and risk of ending with spiral of debt is removed.

(Yes, it is a real risk. Yes I know that you and me are not going to e so stupid. But I am not trusting this belief.)

If someone fraudulently or mistakenly charges my debit card $5,000, that's $5,000 gone from my bank account until I get it fixed.

If someone charges $5,000 to my credit card in error, I've got 30+ days plus to resolve with zero financial impact to me. If it doesn't get resolved in that time, I have the option to not pay the bill (or that portion of the bill), knowing that if the error is fixed, the penalties and interest will be waived.

Have you experienced that? There's limits on charges on debit cards, usually ~2000 Euros. Credit cards are higher but then again they also have the credit limit and won't go beyond that in most cases.

I haven’t experienced it personally, but I know someone who used a debit card for their utilities on auto-pay. Gas company said they damage their meter so they replaced it and auto-debited their account for $2,500. They had to borrow money from friends until it got fixed and the money refunded.

> If someone fraudulently or mistakenly charges my debit card $5,000

in my case payment will fail due to spending limits (though repeated small charges would go through)

In my experience, chargebacks with a debit card (in Europe) are a pain in the ass.

The banks themselves seem to be against it so they made me write emails explaining the situation, give the seller more time (1 month not enough) and then wait another few weeks for processing.

With a credit card (British), they just did it -_-

And let me mention how a SEPA payment means your money is gone unless the seller themselves agrees to refund.

Because at least if it goes wrong, the money being used isn't actually your money until you pay the CC bill. That $2500 is still sat in your account.

Spiral of debt is only a risk if you have no discipline.

For those of us that do have discipline, CC's are great.

In the US debit cards have terrible charge back, and even then, if the merchant doesn't follow through, you're the one who needs to fight for it, where as with a CC it'll be them doing the fighting.

That customer service is also paid for by the credit card fees they charge merchants in the United States.

None of the cards my bank offers seem that enticing: https://www.kiwibank.co.nz/personal-banking/credit-cards/rat...

It’s a shame the NZ market hates credit cards so much. In the UK they are widely accepted - as in I struggle to think of a shop that didn’t accept them. Including dairies and food trucks (thanks Square!).

Btw I find it weird that EFTPOS cards have no annual fee, but debit cards do, but some credit cards don’t (eg ASB Visa Light has no ongoing fees).

I sometimes have to pay £1 via card when in a shop activating a service like a monthly phone plan. The £1 is just to validate the card details I gave. They then give me a £1 coin back. I always pay with the credit card, even for such a small amount- because it’s the banks money, not mine, and the bank will always take care of their money more carefully than your own.

In New Zealand, the local EFTPOS network is basically a home-grown network that the major NZ banks established in the 1980s's and have continued operating on a shoe-string budget ever since. For the most part merchants only have to pay a low fixed cost to access the network, whereas customers usually don't pay a fee (as most banks either bundle free EFTPOS transactions in a fixed monthly fee package or even offer it for free entirely for certain account products).

Visa/Mastercard on the other hand has Merchants paying 1-3% of all transactions as well as customers paying an annual fee (usually around $25 or so for standard non-reward cards but can go up to hundreds of dollars for higher end cards) for many card products (so a tidy profit from the merchants as well as some annual top-up from the customers).

From a typical New Zealand merchant's perspective it doesn't always make sense to offer Visa/Mastercard if they can decide to only accept EFTPOS cards (which almost everyone in New Zealand has) and keep the 1-3% that they would otherwise lose to Visa/Mastercard.

Visa/Mastercard offer more modern benefits (e.g. Paywave) which is not offered by EFTPOS which I suspect is partly due to the fact New Zealand's EFTPOS network does not generate much of its own income (just the small fees merchants pay to access the network I believe) so they just continue with the minimum amount of investment.

Personally I have an zero-fee American Express card that earns Air New Zealand Airpoints. As a fallback at merchants that don't accept Amex, I have a Wise (ex TransferWise) Mastercard on my phone (for NFC payments) as well as a physical Kiwibank Visa card. When none of these are accepted I fall back on to my EFTPOS card which is more or less on par with cash in New Zealand. I estimate around 50% of my expenses are on Amex, 10% on Visa/Mastercard and the balance through EFTPOS with the occasional cash for markets and the like.

Kiwi here too, just one of the many in the UK. EFTPOS was great for its time, and yes the low fees are great, but I can’t but wonder about the security of a magstripe compared to a chip. Magstripes are long gone in Europe. Which reminds me- Revolut has great security controls, can enable/disable magstripe, so can disable until until you are in a shop that needs it still, like many places in the US.

That’s why I love Apple Pay (I’ve got UK & NZ bank cards on it, Wise & Revolut too). Now when going out for a local shop I often only take my phone and keys, no need for a bulky (or slim) wallet. Drivers license only if I expect to buy alcohol (and 90% of the time I could have left it at home).

Edit: Also to add, if the pandemic ended up hitting NZ the way it did in the UK/Europe/US, you would see a far higher uptake in contactless payments methods. I dislike touching pin pads now unless I absolutely have to!

>In New Zealand, the local EFTPOS network is basically a home-grown network that the major NZ banks established in the 1980s's and have continued operating on a shoe-string budget ever since. For the most part merchants only have to pay a low fixed cost to access the network, whereas customers usually don't pay a fee (as most banks either bundle free EFTPOS transactions in a fixed monthly fee package or even offer it for free entirely for certain account products).

Sounds exactly like Interac in Canada. Although nowadays I believe most if not all Interac debit cards are also co-branded as MasterCard/Visa debit. Which makes em usable online as well. (There is a Interac online but only a small small small handful of sites even support it.)