[akmarinov]

That’s because credit card benefits suck in Europe and there’s no point to using them.

If you need credit, there are credit options with much lower rates than what credit cards offer.

And the reason credit card benefits suck is due to european interchange fee caps and regulation.

[lwhi]

So credit card benefits suck, because the consumers can't be exploited to create a large profit surplus that can partially be used to benefit a small subset of consumers.

[athrowaway3z]

Multiple reports have shown merchants are raising the costs for all consumers to cover the credit card accepting costs.

I really hope you're getting paid to pretend to be this gullible to the most basic of the credit-card companies schemes.

[ffsm8]

As a European consumer, it sounds on point to me?

There are no benefits for any of the credit cards I could get since roughly Corona - I was using them before but all cards which had positive benefits were removed/discontinued since.

Hence I'm back using a debit, because it works the same (no benefits either way) and doesn't come with a monthly bill.

[akmarinov]

Well that’s why we need the digital euro, so we can stop sending billions overseas to Mastercard and Visa

[immibis]

I don't know that I'd call not paying an extra 5% just to receive 1% back "sucking". It seems like a win-win to me. If you need something, pay for it (with that extra 4% saving) instead of jumping through a million hoops to pretend it's free.

[esskay]

> That’s because credit card benefits suck in Europe and there’s no point to using them.

Theres still a very good reason to use them - buyer protection.

I use a Virgin Atlantic reward card and have it set to pay off automatically, never running up debt. It both protects me as a buyer, and has the benefit of taking ~£500 off annual family holidays, and gives me a free companion seat in the process, effectively halving the price for one of the passengers.

[jacekm]

I am not sure what you mean by "buyer protection" but if it's chargeback then it's doable on debit cards too.

[Symbiote]

If you purchase an item on credit, it's the bank that makes the purchase. You then pay them back, 30 or 60 (or more) days later.

If there's a problem with the item, you can "return" it to the bank — after all, they own it! So in practise you can ask the shop for a refund, or you can ask the bank.

It is a stronger protection than a debit card chargeback.

As an example, I bought flight tickets from an obscure budget airline on a credit card. Months later, beyond the usual debit chargeback time limit, the airline went bankrupt — but my bank purchased that service, and isn't going to provide it! They refund immediately.

https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/our-expertise/cards/chargeback-...

[akmarinov]

Sorry, meant to say the EU. No clue how it works in the UK

[knallfrosch]

>has the benefit of taking ~£500 off annual family holidays, and gives me a free companion seat in the process, effectively halving the price for one of the passengers.

You know you're paying higher sticker prices to finance that, right?

[esskay]

If I am then so is every other traveler with every single airline in the world.

Go on Virgin Atlantics site, search for any flight, you can then apply points to that, or redeem a companion voucher. That doesn't bump the price up prior to redemption.

I dont "pay" for the points I get, as I'm not spending any extra day to day. The credit card is free.

[knallfrosch]

You're spending more because your shop charges you 3% more. I live in the EU and my prices are 3% lower.

[esskay]

What shop? What on earth are you on about? Every single business in the entirety of the UK charges 3% more to cover virgin giving away cheaper flights? Use your words as this sounds nuts. Credit card rewards aren't exclusive to the UK so I can't work out what on earth you are talking about. If you are suggesting the UK as a whole pays 3% more on every single CC transaction then your argument becomes even more odd as you'd be contradicting your original point.

[octo888]

Co-branded (eg Amex KLM) and business cards were/are exempt from the interchange fee cap regulation.

Though Amex are currently in dispute with the Netherlands who believe the caps do apply to them. I don't think a final judgement has been made yet.

[akmarinov]

Good luck with Amex in Europe - few places take it and after the 5-6 try, you just give up and get a normal card.

[octo888]

I've had very good luck with it the past 10 years. A few petrol stations in deep rural Spain didn't accept it, but that's all I can remember recently :-) They also have fantastic customer service

[forgotusername6]

They are still useful for buyer protection.

[seanieb]

Credit card benefits suck in the US now too, no?

[akmarinov]

There’s still plenty of options to get cashback and miles and stuff, though?

Best cashback in my country is 1% back, capped at 500€ a year, after you do 33000€ worth of purchases a year.