Credit card debt collection
&gt; you, reader, use credit cards in preference to debit cards as a payment instrument<p>Reader from Europe here. I use debit cards for daily payments, that&#x27;s just the most standard expected payment method in Europe (with mobile payments now replacing it. Is a mobile payment app more like a debit or like a credit card? I have no idea actually!).<p>But credit cards for online payments on the internet because (despite some debit card based systems existing which don&#x27;t seem to work by default) on the internet credit cards seems to be the main supported payment method, including e.g. through Paypal, but also for local online shops, airlines, ...<p>So in the US credit card vs debit card is probably an important distinction between buying on actual credit or not and all the fun stuff they have there like credit ratings, but in Europe the main distinction seems to simply be which one works for online purchases or not. Of course some reward programs for credit cards do exist here, I think American Express specifically has some benefits to the user but isn&#x27;t accepted everywhere (Heard from other users, don&#x27;t have this one myself. I&#x27;m not really into rewards programs myself, why not just make the stuff you buy cheaper instead?). Also, visa and mastercard seem to have no practical difference and some banks just give both.<p>If this view is naive or incomplete, it probably just shows credit cards are indeed not as important in Europe, if they gave some huge benefit I&#x27;d have known!<p>Edit: I don&#x27;t mean to say credit and debt collection doesn&#x27;t exist in Europe. All the stuff like payday loans, car loans and buying on credit from some stores exists.