Cards and Germany (1 Viewer)

[Just smiffy]

is it still a pain for cards for Germany...? I've got Revolut and a cc with MasterCard and the usual visa debit cards, I dont like carrying cash and you can only take out £200 on revolut a month without fees...

What do petrol stations take?
And I don't fancy the rip off rates anywhere else...
Any recent experiences ...?

Thanks

 

[Robert Clark]

Was in Germany a month ago
Cards in Petrol stations are fine - everywhere else crap
Take a bit of cash or withdrawer it on your card when you're there

 

[Jaws]

Well you learn something new every day !
After more than eight years of travelling in Germany I now find out using cards is a problem ?
Never ever had an issue.. We use a bog standard credit card from the post office ( no roaming charges so to speak )

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[jongood]

We use the zero card and have done since it was available with no problems.

 

[Robert Clark]

Credit Cards
A lot of smaller shops will not accept your credit card (Kreditkarte). There are even some larger supermarkets that do not accept credit card payments, either. This may be a surprise if you are used to paying for your groceries with a credit card. Larger restaurants and hotels generally accept credit card payments, but not necessarily all types of card, whereas tiny B&Bs may not take any credit cards at all.

 

[DangerMousy]

In Germany right now and we've not had a problem paying by card at petrol stations, supermarkets or shops that are part of a chain. But almost everywhere else has been cash only, except for a few places in the main tourist areas.

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[Deleted member 29692]

I think it depends where you are.

The last time we were there Garmisch was hopeless. Nothing worked. There was one cashpoint in the entire town I could use, apart from that everything needed to be cash.

When we moved on the next place we stopped at was fine. Everything worked as normal.

The way it was explained to me is that they have several card processing services in the country. One of the most popular ones, i.e. cheapest to use, doesn't accept Visa or MasterCard, only something called Eurocard which I'd never heard of. It doesn't much matter to Germans because they very much still prefer to use cash.

Before anyone says it, yes I know Eurocard is part of MasterCard and they claim to be cross compatible. Trust me they aren't.

My advice would be to always have plenty of cash on you. If your cards work fine, if they don't at least you have a back up.

 

[Alistair33]

Anyone for bridge ?

 

[DangerMousy]

The way it was explained to me is that they have several card processing services in the country. One of the most popular ones, i.e. cheapest to use, doesn't accept Visa or MasterCard, only something called Eurocard which I'd never heard of. It doesn't much matter to Germans because they very much still prefer to use cash

We only came across one place like this - a campsite in Munich. They only took EC (German debit cards) or Maestro, luckily they also had an ATM. Everywhere else if they took cards my Halifax Mastercard worked fine.

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[Zigisla]

With regards to revolut only allowing 200 without charges, if you both have a card each, then at least you will have double that before charges.

 

[Alistair33]

With regards to revolut only allowing 200 without charges, if you both have a card each, then at least you will have double that before charges.

Thame the mistress too and you're up to £600, include the two children and you're back to zero

 

[Just smiffy]

I tell you, I'm starting to lose it..! I'm too busy thinking about the £200 limit on Revolut, rather then the fee, 2% on anything over £200. if I need any more cash I'll just get it from Revolut. £4 on an extra £200 is not going to break the bank and is probably better then the exchange charges from getting cash out from my debit card...!

Blimey I'm turning into a right old miser ...

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[PhilG]

£200 a month ?? what is the point of that. ?

Some places only take EC cards, i have had a few places where i havent been able to pay for groceries , like Netto, and Pennymarkt, but Rewe, Edeka etc are fine.

I always have enough cash on hand for emergencies, being stuck by the side of the road with a credit card and no cash is no use to anyone, if i have to i will fuel prior to the ferry and pay cash just so i dont have loads left, but as we are over every 3 weeks or so, i dont worry.

 

[PenelopePitstop]

We've had many problems using debit and credit cards in Germany. Even on the Rhine and Mosel which are big tourist areas. Campsites, shops even the Rhine boats!! The worst case was when, last year, we went to Munich to try and get the Truma boiler sorted out. Truma do not accept cards other than German ones!!! Thank goodness we only had a bill for €200. Imagine if we'd been having something more expensive done!

 

[PhilG]

We've had many problems using debit and credit cards in Germany. Even on the Rhine and Mosel which are big tourist areas. Campsites, shops even the Rhine boats!! The worst case was when, last year, we went to Munich to try and get the Truma boiler sorted out. Truma do not accept cards other than German ones!!! Thank goodness we only had a bill for €200. Imagine if we'd been having something more expensive done!

I wouldnt expect to be able to pay by card for a campsite or anything on a boat in the UK... paying by card costs the retailer money, and it all adds up. If you are a big retailer, you can 'negotiate' that percentage down to a reasonable level, but smaller retailers get screwed over to the point where they would rather not bother.. and luckily the local people get that , because they support local business, which is why they have so many local independant businesses, that do well.

Last time i was on the Mosel i never had issues, but we always carry cash , so when they ' keine karte' , it doesnt throw us into a panic.

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[Deleted member 29692]

We only came across one place like this - a campsite in Munich. They only took EC (German debit cards) or Maestro, luckily they also had an ATM. Everywhere else if they took cards my Halifax Mastercard worked fine.

It was an entire town when it happened to us

 

[Deleted member 29692]

I wouldnt expect to be able to pay by card for a campsite or anything on a boat in the UK... paying by card costs the retailer money, and it all adds up. If you are a big retailer, you can 'negotiate' that percentage down to a reasonable level, but smaller retailers get screwed over to the point where they would rather not bother.. and luckily the local people get that , because they support local business, which is why they have so many local independant businesses, that do well.

Last time i was on the Mosel i never had issues, but we always carry cash , so when they ' keine karte' , it doesnt throw us into a panic.

The cost for debit card processing in the UK is usually a fixed fee of just pennies, regardless of the size of the business. I'm not aware of any service provider that charges a percentage on debit card transactions.

Credit card fees are higher and charged as a percentage which is why many small businesses add that percentage to the bill if the customer is paying by CC.

 

[PhilG]

The cost for debit card processing in the UK is usually a fixed fee of just pennies, regardless of the size of the business. I'm not aware of any service provider that charges a percentage on debit card transactions.

Credit card fees are higher and charged as a percentage which is why many small businesses add that percentage to the bill if the customer is paying by CC.

When i ran a shop, my boss had managed to get fees down to 1.5%, from around 4%.. that has been a while back. We didnt take anything over £250 without passing it on.

Each country has its ' thing' , as long as you know, its ok... i love the fact that everything retail is shut on a sunday, and i love that i can walk up to a bank at 3am, push the door , and it opens.

Somewhere along the line, a retailer has to pay.

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[Robert Clark]

When i ran a shop, my boss had managed to get fees down to 1.5%, from around 4%.. that has been a while back. We didnt take anything over £250 without passing it on.

Each country has its ' thing' , as long as you know, its ok... i love the fact that everything retail is shut on a sunday, and i love that i can walk up to a bank at 3am, push the door , and it opens.

Somewhere along the line, a retailer has to pay.

Thankfully the credit card companies have been forced to drastically reduce their metchant processing fees in recent years.
I imagine a typical figure would now be under 0.5%, with high turnover businesses paying substantially less.