AFAIK, currently all debit cards are US-based. Mastercard - US based, VISA - US based. We used to have girocard in Germany, but it’s being phased out by most banks in favor of one of the US solutions. There used to be the EC system but as I understand it, it’s gone for a while now.
Do we currently have any card-based European payment solutions? How much money do we actually give to the US just for the luxury of being able to pay by card?
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It is called Wero and it’s coming.
Portugal, Spain and Italy are also making their own payment system. As an user of the Portuguese interbank payment system I feel it has a lot more well established features compared to other countries. https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/45054/european-mobile-payment-operators-enable-interoperability
I didn’t know it existed, thanks for the information. I have activated directly in bank app, it’s supported here in France :)
I’m hoping for it to not suck. My bank doesn’t yet support it, but probably will somentime in 2025. If the system works, I’d be happy to use it instead of my Visa/MasterCard accounts. We really need a good alternative to those and to PayPal.
Here for a few already.
In Norway we have BankAxept. Debit cards issued by Norwegian banks have BankAxept and an international system like Visa or Mastercard. Basically all domestic debit card payments are via BankAxept. It costs less for the stores, because the fees are lower. And it costs less for society, because the money isn’t just transferred abroad. As far as I know, the same applies to Vipps (our mobile payment solution).
Not yet. We need to hang in until wero and others work internationally.
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Is there a Google/Apple Pay alternative as well? Most people I know in EU hardly even go out with a wallet any longer.
Only Samsung pay for now, nothing European yet.
Some banks like Sparda Bank, Sparkasse and VR in Germany have their own app at least on android as far as I know. And the EU forced Apple to open its ecosystem to other apps.
Do these us solutions actually affect us as long as we’re only doing regular SEPA payments?
As far as I know, SEPA payments don’t go through networks like Visa and Mastercard (or CB), it’s a different system. Do you even need a card to pay by SEPA?
When you’re paying online you mostly just enter your account number.
When I do SEPA transfers via my online banking I only need to enter source and destination bank account information.
I have literally no idea, it would be great if someone more knowledgeable could enlighten me. All I see is the logo on my banking card and the card payment thingy so my guess is they somehow get paid?
What I do know however that they get money for the “Bezahlkarten” that Germany introduces in order to strip refugees of their bank accounts and the ability to make bank transfers as they please (among other reasons).
In France, there’s the CB network, but I don’t think it works internationally. I assumed there was a similar system in other countries, but maybe I was wrong. I’m not entirely sure how this all works, so please take this comment with a grain of salt, it’s very possible that many things are inaccurate.
My card, like most, has access to 2 payment networks: CB and Visa. (Both logos are printed on the card: see this example.) Most French physical cards have access to these two networks, CB and Visa — sometimes it’s CB andMastercard but I believe it’s less common ? — but I don’t think “virtual” cards (those on smartphones) can use CB.
When I pay online, I can typically choose between CB and Visa. When I pay on a physical terminal, in a shop, it’s also possible to choose in most cases: there’s a default setting chosen by the shop (most often CB because the fees are lower, I think), but if the shop terminal supports both of your card’s network, you can change it by clicking on the yellow button. The fees are different for the shopkeeper, but the price is the same for the consumer, so most people don’t pay attention to it and might not even realise there’s a difference.
I remember once paying in a shop (from a big American chain) where they only accepted Visa. I’m not sure how common that is, because I generally don’t bother checking, I only did it that time because I had just learned about the yellow button and was trying it in every store. :-) Apparently, during the 2024 Olympic Games, you could only pay by Visa in the Olympic venues because the Organising Committee had made an sponsoring agreement with them
There is polish Blik. It’s cardless, and I think all major banks in Poland support it. They started expanding into Slovakia and Romania last I heard.
Do we currently have any card-based European payment solutions?
Yes: Russia, a European country, has their own system
