Question about visa debit cards and credit cards in Germany?

8 comments

1. Girocards do allow you to make online purchases if you have Online Banking enabled on your account.

   Most websites offer either “Giropay” or “Sofortüberweisung” (might also be labelled as “Klarna”) as instant online payment options, otherwise it’ll be “Lastschrift” which is basically a SEPA mandate that allows said company to send a request to your bank to withdraw that amount of money from your bank account.

   Girocards and Giro accounts can also be linked to Paypal, so Paypal is usable here without a credit card.

   I’m not exactly sure how the credit cards work over here though, so someone else has to answer that.

2. We usually have a bank card (Girokonto), which you use at atm‘s, and by now in most stores, but usually not online. Any purchase is deducted from your bank account. And then we have the credit card, which is indeed a credit card, meaning the total amount spent will be deducted from your bank account at the end of the month. What is still rather rate are debit cards by credit card companies. Does that help?

3. Yes, a credit card in Germany works more like a charge card in the UK, where you pay the full balance each month.

   Your Visa or MasterCard debit card can still be used online, abroad, with Paypal etc if your bank issues them. The online banks like N26, Tomorrow, ING, Comdirect etc. all issue normal debit cards like you’re used to. So you wouldn’t need a credit card if you have one of these accounts.

   The bigger and older banks sometimes only issue girocards as standard which only work in Germany and not online (in most cases – some sites can take them). I’m with Berliner Sparkasse who only offer them. I think Volksbank is similar. So that means I need to pay for a credit card in addition if I want to use my card abroad or online.

   But some people still want an girocard for whatever reason. E.g. it’s the only card they accept at the immigration office, so it’s worth it for them to have two cards, rather than switching to a more universal debit card.

4. Most “credit” cards over here are debit credit cards, meaning you can only really spend up to your account balance. Depending on the bank you’ll either get one big sum deducted at the end of the month, or one for each time you used your card.

   There are almost no actual *credit* credit cards.

5. Oh, as for the why: I guess be aus credit cards arrived fairly late here. We were pretty much a cash buying society, and had a decent money transfer system to wire money to someone else, plus the girokarte granted access to many atm‘s, so credit cards arrived on a scene where most needs that let to their use elsewhere were already taken care of. These days, it’s not that customers are crazy about using the credit card to buy online, it’s the Stores (Credit Card means they get their money, period. Girocard means having to check if the account has enough money in it, meaning having to spent money and time to check).

6. In some countries there is a blurring of the lines between a credit card and a debit card, to the point that people actually aren’t sure what they’re paying with (which can sometimes be problematic): for example, you’re almost certainly using the debit function to withdraw cash, but the credit card function to make online purchases… although if you’re using your UK Visa card in a German cash machine, you might instead be using the credit function.

   In Germany, things aren’t quite so blurry. Debit cards — called “EC Karte” or “Girokarte” — have your bank account details on them and withdraw money directly from your current account. Credit cards work by effectively “lending” you money, which you pay back at the end of the month, plus maybe a little interest; they have a credit card number on them, not your bank details (although they may carry the *branding* of the issuing bank). Like most people, I have mine set up with a direct debit, so it automatically deducts the due amount from my current account.

   You don’t need, by the way, either a debit card or a credit card for online purchases or to use PayPal, at least not in Germany. Direct bank transfers (“Überweisung”), standing orders (“Termin-Überweisung”) and direct debit (“Lastschrift”) are much more common in Germany than in the UK.

   For example, my Amazon account is set up to deduct funds straight from my current account using direct debit, although I also have my credit card details entered as a back-up. I didn’t need a debit card to set that up: just my International Bank Account Number. The same with PayPal: you don’t need any kind of card to set up a PayPal account, and you can choose to pay by credit card, direct debit or, if you’re nervous about security and don’t mind a little inconvenience, bank transfer.

7. Yes it’s confusing and I can’t give you a full answer. But I know that it depends on the bank – at Deutsche Bank I have a credit card that works the same as in the UK, while at DKB I have a credit card that you can use to get money out of ATM and you top it up.

   Many places will only accept the giro card because the fees are smaller. I guess it’s just a crappier version of UK debit card – there were places in the UK that only accept debit because it’s cheaper.

   Also beware if you want to pay for hotel or rent-a-car abroad, for that you need a “real” UK-like credit card and some of the ones they call “credit” here don’t work as they act more like a debit card (I don’t have experiences personally but I read about this and makes sense).

   Not sure I understand what’s scary about 2 cards and tracking them – you had debit and credit in the UK too?

8. “Credit cards” in the sense of cards using the branding and payment network of a major credit card systems (e.g. Visa, Mastercard) can be further subdivided into:

   * actual credit cards (with a revolving credit), where you *don’t* have to pay the full balance each month (but incur upwards of 15% annual interest on the remaining unpaid balance)
   * charge cards, where you *must* pay the full balance each month (or even “daily charge” cards, where the balance is due at the end of each banking day). The term “charge card” isn’t very commonly used by German banks. You can tell this type apart from actual credit cards by the *lack* of the possibility of partial payment (“Teilzahlung” in German).
   * debit cards, where each purchase is more or less *immediately* withdrawn from your bank account
   * prepaid cards, where you can only spend money you loaded onto the card *beforehand*, both available in single-use and rechargeable varieties

   Debit cards are only ever issued by the same bank that also runs your current account. In case of charge cards issued by the same bank, the amount due is usually automatically taken from your current account. Actual revolving credit cards and prepaid cards are most commonly issued by separate, specialized providers. Some 3rd party credit cards use direct debit, others only send you a bill and require you to make a bank transfer. Some allow you to permanently choose payment in full, others will automatically only do the minimum payment and require you to actively pay the full balance each month, hoping you forget, so they can charge you interest.

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   The Girocard system uses an entirely separate payment network, which offers cheaper merchant fees. Because of that, some brick-and-mortar businesses only accept only these, and not “credit cards” (in the above sense, regardless of the exact card type). In addition, these cards enable a form of payment which is basically direct debit with merely your bank details taken from the card. This is even cheaper for the merchant (but a bit risky, since your account might hold insufficient funds, or you might retroactively reject the direct debit).

   Girocards themselves cannot be used for online shopping, but some online merchants (and most importantly many intermediaries like Paypal) allow you to pay via direct debit from your bank account, enabling you to buy online despite only having a Girocard (although technically the card itself isn’t even involved in the payment). In order to link a German bank account to your PayPal account, you need a “German” PayPal account. If PayPal thinks your account “belongs in another country”, that option isn’t offered.

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   Cash withdrawals are usually possible with both types of card. However, the fees can vary wildly. With some banks, it is cheapest (sometimes even free) to use the Girocard at one of their own or partner banks’ ATMs, and you pay a hefty fee for credit card withdrawals regardless of which ATM you use, whereas some other banks offer free withdrawals with their credit card at any ATM (and some banks make you pay regardless of how you withdraw your cash). Some (but not all) credit cards also charge interest on cash withdrawals from day one, whereas purchases are always interest-free until the monthly due date.

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   The Commerzbank card you linked is a charge card. It is only available to people who already have a current account at Commerzbank. At 39.90€ per year, it is relatively expensive, considering there are completely free “3rd party” (not directly linked to your bank account) credit cards available, such as Hanseatic Bank Genialcard, Barclays Visa, or Payback Visa Flex+.

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   If you want to track your spending in just a single place but still have a “credit card”, and you are willing to change your bank account (or don’t even have one yet), the easiest option is probably to get a bank account that comes with a debit card. ING and comdirect offer such accounts for free, DKB is currently in the process of switching from charge cards to debit cards (but will at the same time no longer offer free Girocards to new customers) and also offers completely free bank accounts.

   Alternatively, you can forgo the credit card altogether, and resort to direct debit for your online purchases (facilitated by PayPal, Klarna, Amazon Pay, etc. if the vendor doesn’t offer it directly).

   Any other solution either involves the hassle of dealing with a prepaid “credit card” (i.e. topping it up a few days before you want to make a purchase; besides, as far as I know, there aren’t any free prepaid credit cards available in Germany), or keeping track of at least two separate balances (current account and credit card).