1. Extra hassle of interaction with a second company other than your bank, extra credentials, tracking balances, etc. etc. When I was living in the Netherlands I had my bank-account-attached Maestro card (or sometimes cash) and that was that. Except when foreign companies needed a credit card.
2. Fees. The whole point of credit cards - for the CC companies of course - is fees.
> Fees. The whole point of credit cards - for the CC companies of course - is fees.
On the merchant side, yes.
On the consumer side, no. There aren't many examples than Amex which is mostly popular in US charging high fees for their credit cards.
Most credit card companies make money from merchant run programs and overdraft & interest on late payments and penalties. They make half of their profit from vulnerable and poor people to pay rewards.
Merchants can forward the fees they pay onto you. And, in fact, some definitely do. So cash/debit card price would be X, credit card price might be X + 1% or X + 3 EUR or whatever. Others just refuse to accept credit cards: Direct debit or cash only.
As others have noted, basically every bank in the US offers credit cards, but I do make use of American Express as my primary purchasing method, and for me this is a feature and not a bug.
They offer excellent customer service, the concierge offering has done quite a few excellent things for me (for free!), every time I have had to perform a chargeback the experience has been painless and the investigation concluded quickly, they generally have promotions related to merchants I frequent, etc. It's a much better experience as a customer than any bank I have ever had an account with.
Pretty much every major bank in the US issues credit cards, so you don't need to deal with a second company. For most consumers, there are credit cards without fees (the CC companies charge fees to merchants, but unless you're dealing with a place that offers a cash discount, that doesn't affect you at all).
> Extra hassle of interaction with a second company other than your bank
Nearly every (probably every) bank issues credit cards (they'll ultimately be Visa or MC, but cobranded by your bank) if you want to get everything from one place.
> Fees. The whole point of credit cards - for the CC companies of course - is fees.
What fees? There are no fees. In fact there are nearly always cash back (or points, or something) that benefit you.
Sure, the merchant pays CC fees, but those are bundled in the price of the item so you'll be paying those even if you pay cash. So might as well use a credit card and get all the legal protections that only credit cards guarantee + some cash back.
I guess that depends on the legal system. In some places the merchant frequently passes the fees on to the customer (and any contract between the payment network and the merchant which prohibits it is invalid to that extent by law). Then you need to consider the rules of the place you're in and decide which card to pull out, and you probably have your default card on Apple/Google/Samsung Pay set to be the debit card.
I think it's also common for a credit card to have an annual fee that probably doesn't apply to a debit card.
> In some places the merchant frequently passes the fees on to the customer
In the US that is exceedingly rare. The only exceptions I've seen are the government and a few discount gas stations.
But, you're right, in the end it's important to always be aware of the payment rules of each place and optimize accordingly.
> I think it's also common for a credit card to have an annual fee that probably doesn't apply to a debit card.
Most normal credit cards (at least in the US) have no annual fee. A good one is the Citi Double Cash card, no annual fee and unlimited 2% back on everything.
The premium cards have fees, those are rarely worth it unless you travel so much that you can take advantage of all the discounts.
2. Fees. The whole point of credit cards - for the CC companies of course - is fees.