> Europe has Vpay and Maestro/EC
...owned by Visa and Mastercard?
Don't forget iDeal! It's only used in The Netherlands, but unlike Sofort there is no intermediary company.
Basically, a merchant redirects you to your own bank's website. You have to log in, but all transaction details are already fixed. After confirmation, you're redirected back to the merchant and the transaction is complete.
Fee for instant transfers is optional, my bank charges me 0€ during normal banking hours and 0,10€ outside banking hours.
Re:European Payments Initiative (EPI)
by mrweasel on Thursday September 02, 2021 @12:08PM
(#28393818)
Note that depending on country, Klarna and similar providers require you to pay them using a debit card. It specifically cannot be a credit card, because that would mean incurring new debt to cover existing debt.
Not really. Europe has Vpay and Maestro/EC. Online payments can be done in some countries by "Sofort" https://www.klarna.com/pay-now/
They may just want to standardize it for all of Europe. In general, US banking often looks like stone age compared with Europe. Alo ne a money wire is annoying. IBAN payments are free. I think they charge a small fee for instant money wires.