At least in my corner of the world, debit cards can be used anywhere online that requires credit cards, but at least some banks disable it by default so you have to enable online payments. 15 -20 years ago it was different and you HAD to have a credit card to buy shit off Amazon or Steam so most kids couldn’t get shit.
Comment on Australia says platforms like Steam and Roblox have 'significant' child safety gaps
dev_null@lemmy.ml 1 day agoCredit cards are mostly a US thing. Most other places you just use debit cards.
Credit cards are of course used worldwide but most people don’t own one and those who do use it rarely, since why would you borrow money to pay for something unless it’s an emergency or some big / long term thing (at which point an actual loan is probably better, so again CC not needed).
boonhet@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Debit cards make sense. Though I would expect those to be usable as CCs for the verification part.
dev_null@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
I’m not sure the reason, but my guess is that a child can own a debit card, but can’t own a credit card.
hanrahan@slrpnk.net 6 hours ago
what ? im Aussie and im 60 I’ve been using credit cards as an Aussie for 35 years or so.
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have a credit card, i have 3 with a $0 balance that are paid off automatically monthly (I use 1 exclusively and the others are backups). I earn a extra month of income in a HISA and get JB HiFi and Woolies/Coles gift cards as rewards. I also have 5 debit cards because they give them out like candy every time you open an account somewhere and never use any of them at all, aside from one occasionally at the ATM.
forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/150?g=369
dev_null@lemmy.ml 6 hours ago
I said “mostly a US thing” for a reason! Australia is definitely one of places where credit cards are more common. Still, from what I checked now, only around 50% of adults in Australia own a credit card, let alone use one.
In US they are popular becase they give lots of rewards (which may be the case in Australia, you definitely know better than me). These rewards come from charging credit card fees to merchants. In the EU the law protects merchants from unreasonable credit card fees, and without charging fees, there are no rewards. And without rewards, there is no point in using a credit card day to day - leaving it only for emergencies, etc.