Wero will become the replacement over time.
But for now, you're stuck with Visa and Mastercard if your country doesn't have a local alternative.
Just get the cheapest option.
this post was submitted on 27 Mar 2025
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Wero flew by my radar, thanks for the hint. Three of my banks even support it already, awesome!
Wero can win if the banks offer it with no additional cost to stores and, and this ia crucial, it offers credit and the blocking of funds for stuff like car rentals.
It needs to be as easy a visa/MasterCard and cheaper / easier to run with the same features. I have hope, but that is a tough order.
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China has UnionPay, Japan has JCB, Russia has MIR. Europe should have its own credit card network
"EUROCARD"
Sounds nice as well
Make it blue with stars on it and the globe displaying a space picture of earth with europe
@EUCommission@ec.social-network.europa.eu let's make this happen, mkay?
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Have you looked into American Express?
oh shit, nevermind.
Clearly Discover is the solution. Oh wait, that's not an option either.
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And the idea would be to have something even my grandma can use, not some nerdy solution, any thoughts?
Use cash
A sensible stopgap solution, but doesn't really work for big purchases or online shopping.
For big purchases it doesn't, indeed. But for online shopping, would it work if you select payment on delivery at checkout, maybe?
A local debit card is your best bet
Maestro is part of MasterCard.
Maestro isn't a local system it's a limited debit card like electron for visa. Other comments are about national Credit cards. WERO is the only European network pushed by the ECB (and begrudgingly taken up by most major European banks). It piggy backs on the Free-of-charge instant wiring SEPA system.
TIL Maestro still exists
Those still go through the bank card system.
Use cash.
How do you pay cash online?
And I donโt think the banking system is evil and should be destroyed, I just want the EU to be strong and independant, have tech and finance sovreinty
Online you pay by bank transfer. Instead of "credit card", I choose "online bank", click my bank's name, enter my online banking login and password, give one of the single-use codes and press "transfer". A bank transfer from my account to the bank account number defined by the shop is made, no money goes to USA.
Are these instant transfers if they're not using VISA?
On working days before 16 o'clock bank transfers inside EU are instantaneous. After that, next working day. If the shop has the same bank as the customer, it's always instantaneous.
But, the shop receives immediate confirmation that the money has been successfully taken from the customer's account and will arrive soon.
...which is actually how it works with card payments as well. With card payments, the shop receives the money about a week later, but gets an immediate confirmation that the money is on the way.
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In Canada we have Interac. Works great.
Bitcoin uses way to much energy to use as currency like that. gridcoin or any other one that uses proof of stake would be better if accepted but its a bit nicer if the energy put into it results in a useful product which gridcoin does.
How does production of physical cash and movement of money between accounts compare to crypto?
creation of physical cash's cost are not inflated and get changed based on cost and necessity. Using cheaper materials to reduce cost but adding advanced elements which increase cost. Again though it does not have an artificial inflation mechanic causing it to use more energy over time and is just based on method and materials. A big thing in this is how long it functions. coins cost more than paper mostly but one thing people don't take into account is how long they last versus paper. So you typically see things about a penny costing more than a penny but whats not taken into account is that it is least lasting coin at 25 years while most paper under 50s last less than 10 years but longer lasting denominations are usually used less. It comes down to how much value physical money gets in its lifetime vs its cost to make. So you add up every transaction and average out the value for a particular currency type. Movement is done in the real world so its a bit apples to oranges. It does not require anything necessarily. If all computers and electricity. So its going to vary greatly if I give my brother a fiver for grabbing his oj than if I go deposit it at a bank to if I buy from a retalier to if I foolishly mailed it directly. I don't think physical money can be compared to much of any electronic equivalents honestly. That is in the realm of folks that believe in cashless system to ones who want some ability to have the physical ability.
This might not help you OP, but alternative to VISA and Mastercard is UPI. India and some south east asian countries use that for transactions rapidly. Also India also built Rupay (not the currency) to break visa and mastercards duopoly.
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If you're in the Nordics I suggest Vipps/Mobilepay/Swish as payment methods.
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For any purchase made with a credit or debit cards and you give them 2-3% of your money.
I'm not sure I understand this. The stores would be the ones to pay this fee, no? Not you with your money. The price of some item doesn't change depending on whether you use cash or a debit or credit card. Not usually anyway, maybe a small local shop has done this to me once or twice in my life. Or maybe a fair stand or something.
If we wanted to stop giving Mastercard and Visa "our" money, we would have to all band together as a world community and boycott them. ๐ฌ
Please someone correct me if I'm wrong!
Edit: I mean, yes, of course the price of those small transactions are included in the price of the item. So we are all "paying" Mastercard and Visa money, even those who aren't using them. Which is still to my point that we need to all band together as a world community to boycott them, which seems futile in all honesty.
While the shop pays the fee, the fee is priced in and still the money ends up going to the card company based on your purchase.
We had this topic a lot with the tariffs recently. Yes technically the tariffs are paid by the importer or exporter. Doesn't change the fact that they end up being part of the consumer price (which is one of the purposes of tariffs)
Yes you're correct.
However, those costs are ultimately passed to you, as higher prices are the only 'trickle' that consumers will receive.
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You are absolutely correct
Now I just prefer my (or the store's money if you prefer) to recycle in the EU. We need it.
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