German CC ownership is something like 33%. It's low compared to similar economies but it's hardly "nobody" and nobody is surprised when an online store only supports CC payments. (Also, German companies that want to offer CC-less payments on items this large and with a subscription cost probably most commonly also support actual bank transfers.)

I can't find a good primary source for that stat. Got a link?

https://www.bundesbank.de/en/publications/reports/studies/pa... says it's actually up to 54% (including prepaid, 7%) in 2021.

What I would say is most unusual in Germany is the number of stores that don't take CCs, or even don't take any cards. People don't use them, but they have them.

Thanks a bunch! I definitely underestimated the amount.

Important to note that 80% of those are what the study calls "charge cards", which is 'credit cards' that resolve against an associated debit account. Not sure if those even allow overdrawing it. And 82% prefer paying with a debit card rather than credit if given the option, which indicates to me that this is a mere reaction to the online prevalence of credit cards which will go down as stores offer more non-credit card options. (As we can see by the slight reduction in '21.)

In other words, I believe this prevalence represents a desire to be able to interface with websites, rather than a desire for credit. People largely don't own a "credit card" so much as a "debit-VISA adapter."