[antonkm]

Swede here. Really baffling for me too. My kids have pretty much never even seen cash. I use the nationwide app Swish to send money to people using their phone number (almost every Swede is connected since it's pushed by all big banks) and only use contactless credit card.

How come Germany is so cash positive? Personally I think Sweden has gone a bit far, where some old people have been put in a weird spot where they can't pay because they're technologically illiterate.

[Cu3PO42]

Other people have replied to your message already and pointed out that we do use cards, just not credit cards. I figured that was clear in my comment, but apparently it wasn't, so I'll go ahead and edit that.

As for why we're so cash positive: one of the factors is privacy. If you pay for everything electronically both your bank and merchants are in the position to build a profile on you. If you use a non-local scheme (e.g. MC or Visa), they can too.

[xorcist]

> we do use cards, just not credit cards. I figured that was clear in my comment,

I think the confusing part of your comment was where you consider non-credit cards (debit, prepaid etc.) to be distinct from VISA/Mastercard. That is not the case in most countries. It used to be the case in Germany, but is slowly changing as more and more debit cards are VISA/Mastercard cobranded.

[et2o]

Germans tend to take on very low levels of debt (speaking broadly). There are lots of hypotheses about the psychology behind it: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-31369185

[mmkhd]

I like the quit romantic explanation best, that debt in Germany has a moral component. "Debt" and "guilt" are nearly the same word, so taking on debt is a topic of moral philosophy: It's a sin ;-)

[mssngrtrn]

Another German. We use "cards" all the time. But these are just cashless and tied to our SEPA accounts (so not a credit card).

[thesimon]

>But these are just cashless and tied to our SEPA accounts (so not a credit card).

which wouldn't be a problem for shopping online if they had a Visa or MasterCard cobrand, as these can be debit and tied to your bank account as well.

It's only slowly changing with some Sparkassen issuing MasterCard debit cobranded cards in late fall (https://www.f-i.de/News/ITmagazin/Archiv/2020/Einfach-mobil-...)

[Cu3PO42]

Interestingly online payments with Maestro (what cards are commonly co-branded with right now) are possible as well with quite a few sites, but the Maestro card number is not exposed and even if you manage to get it, I believe the cards are typically not enabled for that.

That's a peculiar choice, but I assume the decision was made to appeal to the typically skeptical German market. I do wonder why it wasn't made opt-in, though.

[hylaride]

As a Canadian (where most people use debit/credit) my first time in Germany as a tourist I once had to leave my passport as collateral at a restaurant to go find an ATM to pay for our meal as I didn't have €80ish in cash. It flummoxed me almost as much as seeing Germans eat a hamburger with a knife and fork! ;-)

When asking around I got several answers. Everything from a cultural aversion to debt (and spending via cash makes it easier to track your spending), not wanting to be tracked where you shop due to not wanting the government to know (comes from Nazi/East German past), and just being culturally conservative and not really liking change all that much.

I didn't like it as being a tourist meant I was eating out a lot, etc. I had to carry a lot of cash around that I'd only have to pay a fee to convert back if I had any left.

[walshemj]

Having many currency crashes going back to post ww1 probably is one of the causes - and maybe a more healthy if cynical view of government.

[closeparen]

Currency crashes favor debtors, don't they?

[walshemj]

I mean complete replacement of a currency and its German savers that have the fear that their savings will become worthless