Credit cards in Germany (1 Viewer)

[mowbotman]

I was led to believe that credit cards are not very easy to use in Germany and should take a pile of euro,s is this correct ??

 

[StitchesnFluff]

We used the Halifax clarity

 

[orridge]

In restaurants and campsites it's usually fine, you may find some supermarkets, bottle stores and the like only accept local credit cards.

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[zulurita]

We found CC ok for fuel but shops like cash. Supermarkets if they take cards it is mainly Mastercard and not Visa.

 

[Deleted member 29692]

Hit and miss.

I think it depends on the card processing system the shop or whatever uses. Banks are the same.

There is one system that only accepts local cards i.e. not Visa or MasterCard and others that accept anything. Apparently the "local only" system is very common. I guess it must be cheaper.

I've got personal experience of this: we were in Garmisch and ate at a restaurant near the Stellplatz. I went to pay with a card and the guys face fell. We tried every card in my wallet and the machine wouldn't recognise any of them. One of the guys in the restaurant then gave me a lift round to find a cashpoint. We tried about 5 different banks with the same result before the last one finally worked. Luckily the restaurant were used to it happening and had a sense of humour about it

For the rest of the trip I made sure I always had enough cash on me and I'll be doing the same next time we're there.

 

[berni109]

Thanks for this heads up reminder on cards. I think I had heard or seen it before so have got a few euros in just in case.

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[Judge Mental]

Germans are far less indebted then the UK economy where we are drowning in CC debt

 

[Lenny HB]

In recent years only been a problem in supermarkets but now Lidl and Aldi take cards Europe wide the others may have followed so may be better. Rewe have always taken cards.
Also Germans prefer Mastercard.

 

[Clarky]

Germans are far less indebted then the UK economy where we are drowning in CC debt

I think that for most of us it isn't a matter of debt, we pay our cards each month by D/D, but of convenience.
Paying with the right card gives a better exchange rate plus often some 'cash back' and better security because you're not carrying around loads of cash.
It also gives a record of expenditure so you can see where all the money went when you return home stony broke.

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[Judge Mental]

All well and good...but there is no denying the state of the nation. My coments a genralisation..

http://www.independent.co.uk/money/is-britain-facing-a-debt-disaster-a6808086.html
.