I’ve found in the past Germans aren’t always keen on credit cards - they often push back when you try to use them in shops and restaurants and things like ticket machines at railways only seem to take regional debit cards. Trying to use an American Express gets a very bad reaction. Is that changing?
German here; MasterCard and Visa are accepted almost everywhere even the smallest shop usually offers contactless payments (tap).
Amex on the other hand is a rarity and you should expect that it doesn’t work.
I not sure how different Germany and Denmark is in this regard, but both the MasterCard and VISA branded cards in Denmark is nearly always debit cards, not credit cards.
For reading the comments it seems like people are exited about the Apple Card solving a set of problem I simply don't see most people having here in Denmark.
It’s probably changing, I think, but American Express is also one of the worst credit cards you could try to use in Germany. Mastercard and Visa are much more widely accepted.
If you can even find a merchant that accepts credit cards! While in Berlin, the only place I came across that accepted credit cards was my hotel and a Starbucks. Every lunch and dinner place I went to were cash-only.
Wait so I don't understand. You're saying almost nobody accepts credit cards, and someone else is saying almost everywhere accepts them. My experience is definitely that they don't accept them, outside of international places like airports and hotels.
In the UK everywhere has a payment terminal and that terminal accepts absolutely anything - credit, debit, Apple, AmEx, prepaid, cash-card, whatever. I don't know why Germany picks and chooses.
They could have a single bank in any EU country. For instance, Revolut used to provide cards issued by a British bank to all customers across the EU. It's the beauty of the Single Market.
