[elcapitan]

Different countries, different markets, right? Most Germans don't have a CC (if so, then often only for vacation). Inside Germany, the preferred payment version is direct debit. For ecommerce usually paypal as well. Everybody has an EC card (=debit card) issued by their bank and uses that for paying without cash in shops. Even with a CC you wouldn't be able to pay in many of them.

[StudyAnimal]

I don't know many Germans that do not have a credit card these days. You are right that the EC card gets used day-to-day (but maybe less than cash) but most Germans have a credit card for online shopping.

[morsch]

About a third of Germans have a credit card. As a comparison, it's 75% in the US.

http://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/konjunktur/nachrichten/z...

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/FinancialSecurity/story?id=129664