[pierrebeaucamp]

I don't think that matters at all. Many countries have their own debit card system and for what it's worth, I think EC cards are great debit cards. They can, however, not replace credit cards.

All the benefits from credit cards really come from the fact that you're paying with credit: - Travel a lot? They sure accept Visa. - Want to pay some street vendor? Square is only possible because they don't need to dial your bank directly.

Also the fee per transaction might be cheaper on debit cards, but the cost to acquire a debit card reader from your bank is still high. That's why virtually all larger vendors do accept debit cards in Germany, only smaller businesses are cash only (from my perspective).

[supergarfield]

The advantages you give aren't directly related to the cards being real credit cards, though. Visa debit cards work fine all over the world, and with Stripe. (In my experience it's very common in Europe for debit cards to be dual network, domestic and Visa or MasterCard. I don't know about Germany, though.)

The real advantages of credit are spending money you don't have, and points/cashback.

[pjmlp]

You can get them with debit cards as well, depending on your bank account contract.

On some banks there are bank accounts with automatic credit, up to a certain limit of expenses.

[InternetOfStuff]

> the cost to acquire a debit card reader from your bank is still high.

My friend owns a retail business, and acquired a debit card reader for it. I was surprised at how cheap it was (ISTR 50€ -- certainly below 100€). He's quite happy with the bank's tech support, too.