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Amex has great service. New card took two working days. Replacement MasterCard from S took one day longer. Replacement Visa from Postbank took f****** five weeks....
 
Amex has great service. New card took two working days. Replacement MasterCard from S took one day longer. Replacement Visa from Postbank took f****** five weeks....
Sorry, OT :eek: ->
Lucky. Sparkasse made an absolute dog's dinner of it last time. My card got leaked by Ticketmaster and the replacement card took 3 weeks, the new PIN another week. I didn't know the card had been locked until I figured I couldn't pay any more. A week (!) later a letter arrived by post. So they lock the card first and then let me know. Imagine being stuck abroad and wondering why your card doesn't work. And calling the Sparkasse at the weekend is impossible as they all go off from noon on a Friday and don't return to work until 8am the following Monday. If you call my Sparkasse's main hotline an automated response tells you to call again on Monday. The same on their "lunch breaks" (is this a German thing?) Mon-Fri. My local branch has dropped down to a single staff member and reduced opening times massively. I get the principle of being strong on a local level, but there is nothing left of that. I get better and more personalised service from ING or comdirect.

I terminated my account with them yesterday as I've just had enough of their incompetence and arrogance. I do feel sorry for the staff though, as more and more pressure is put on them and they keep cutting back and trying to run their branches with the bare minimum. It just doesn't work and it's a broken system. From what I hear I'm not the only one complaining. Friends of mine also constantly complain about them.

______________________________

I've thought about opening a thread about banking/finance in Germany in the "off-topic" part of MacRumours. Would anyone want to join in there? :cool: Would also help keep this thread "clean".
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/banking-finance-in-germany.2153627/
 
Yes please. Only clean thread and discussions only about Applepay and not other things. Thank you
 
I dont know about a second thread. Its already enough to follow one thread. And to be honest most of the offtopic with banks etc. we would not even talk about if it werent for Apple Pay. Most of the time one leads to the other. But of course if the majority of people wants that then why not.
 
you know that there are 24/7 emergency hotlines for card issues (stolen, locked, on site replacements)? For me it would be
S-MasterCard/VISA CARD 24-Stunden-Notfall-Hotline
(Verlust, Sperre, Ersatz Ihrer Kreditkarte):
+49 (0) 89 411 116-446
 
Or you just call 116 116 works works wide. You can lock your cards and they will instantly order a new card for you no matter which bank you are.
 
At least the 116116 can handle locks for ever card of every bank. But don’t know if they can order replacements.
 
At least the 116116 can handle locks for ever card of every bank. But don’t know if they can order replacements.

They usually can. I had to call there twice. once I locked my Sparda MasterCard and once my N26 and in both cases they they requested a new card for me.
 
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And Sparkasse continues it’s own development ...

8CCA3856-B9FC-4C5C-88AD-688E152CC0F8.jpeg
 
btw sparkasse, I found an interesting tweet from Sparkasse Oberhessen:

Beim Thema Apple Pay bitten wir noch um etwas Geduld. Die Sparkassenorganisation befindet sich diesbezüglich in Gesprächen mit Apple. Diese gilt es abzuwarten. Beste Grüße vom Social Media Team

So (again) no denial for AP.

I think their recent "Q3/2019" presentation does point out they want to modernize Girocard for things like AP and online payment. This would make sense as then all of their Apple customers could use AP and not just a few. This would be the same process as with "Mobiles Bezahlen", where they always proudly pointed out it works with Girocard too (so everyone can use it). And for Apple it would be of high interest too to assist/help Sparkasse with Girocard implementation (like they already did in many other countries with their local payment system) as the potential numbers of customers would be many millions higher.

Just my thoughts :rolleyes:
 
btw sparkasse, I found an interesting tweet from Sparkasse Oberhessen:



So (again) no denial for AP.

I think their recent "Q3/2019" presentation does point out they want to modernize Girocard for things like AP and online payment. This would make sense as then all of their Apple customers could use AP and not just a few. This would be the same process as with "Mobiles Bezahlen", where they always proudly pointed out it works with Girocard too (so everyone can use it). And for Apple it would be of high interest too to assist/help Sparkasse with Girocard implementation (like they already did in many other countries with their local payment system) as the potential numbers of customers would be many millions higher.

Just my thoughts :rolleyes:


No, NOOOO, NOOOOOOOOO! Let that **** Girocard die! I mean why?! There is absolutly nothing that a Girocard can do better than a Debitcard.
 
No, NOOOO, NOOOOOOOOO! Let that **** Girocard die! I mean why?! There is absolutly nothing that a Girocard can do better than a Debitcard.

I really don't understand why you want a foreign payment system to reach higher adoption. Barring the people in this forum and other payment enthusiasts, nobody really cares what card they are using to pay at the store.
Girocard comes with fewer fees since Visa and MasterCard aren't getting a cut, meaning less economic impact. Co-Badging makes them viable in other EU countries. Yes, they're mostly late to the party when it comes to implementing newer technologies. Girocard is a debit card as well.

ApplePay will not support girocard from the beginning because its spec doesn't support tokenization yet. If they add support in Q3/19 I will use ApplePay preferentially with my girocard.
 
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I really don't understand why you want a foreign payment system to reach higher adoption. Barring the people in this forum and other payment enthusiasts, nobody really cares what card they are using to pay at the store.
Girocard comes with fewer fees for since Visa and MasterCard aren't getting a cut, meaning less economic impact. Co-Badging makes them viable in other EU countries. Yes, they're mostly late to the party when it comes to implementing newer technologies. Girocard is a debit card as well.

ApplePay will not support girocard from the beginning because its spec doesn't support tokenization yet. If they add support in Q3/19 I will use ApplePay preferentially with my girocard.


Just because the foreign systems are working perfect in every country, online shop etc.

Nobody inhibited the DK to launch a card system like Visa and MC. But they decided to create a domestic scheme with co-badging.

Why no girocard with real creditcard combo?

I only got problems with my girocard. Especially with the contactless version at the POS. Switched to Visa/MC only one year ago. No problems, no overprised fees if paying in other currencies and no overprised fees for getting cash. And contactless works everywhere in Europe (Yes, the states are a problem)
 
I never use my credit cards to pay online because that's where the most fraud happens. Services like PayPal, ApplePay, AmazonPay are much safer and there will be even more when PSD2 hits for payment service providers in 2019.

Cashless payment in € is free all over europe with all my girocards. Most credit cards issued by banks here charge a foreign transaction fee. I'm not arguing that having a credit card doesn't make travelling easier and cheaper. It does. It's just that it's not absolutely necessary when you're not a frequent traveller and that's why only a third of Germans even own a credit card. It would be best if most people had a girocard with credit card combo and at most banks it's possible to get this, but many traditional banks charge a fee for issuing a credit card.

I only got problems with my girocard. Especially with the contactless version at the POS. Switched to Visa/MC only one year ago. No problems, no overprised fees if paying in other currencies and no overprised fees for getting cash. And contactless works everywhere in Europe (Yes, the states are a problem)

I agree, there were some hiccups at the start. In the last six months, however, I noticed that I was able to use my contactless girocard more often than my Visa or MasterCard because most merchants have upgraded their terminals but some of the smaller ones don't accept credit cards. Even chains like Penny or Edeka don't accept credit cards at all locations because their franchise contract doesn't force them to do so.
 
Poland, UK, Denmark, Sweden have their own currency.
You mentioned, that only a third of the germany got a CC.

Just imagine: the regular banks offer:

Girokonto + Visa/Mastercard

Everyone would have a creditcard. Most of the people dont care if they got a giro- or creditcard. They just want that it works. Most of the time it does. But only in germany.

If you go to a forgein coutry you can the whos german only by observing them. Girocard doesnt work, going to exchange points to get a silly exchange rate.

I think these are some reasons the germans stay at their cash. Cashless ways to pay are not that client-friendly


The only advantage of the girocard in comparison is getting cash in germany. But that is an artifical problem made by the banks. Hopefully they will not implement girocard to apple pay and let it die. Nobody needs it ;)



my local Sparkasse is offering MasterCards. 30€/year for the debit. 60€/year for a real one.
the requirement is an account. prince range: 3-8,90€/month.

I had both of them. costs me about 170€/year. I started to use the MasterCards only. They took 5,90€ for cash at their own ATM. that was the point I went to DKB

If you spend your holiday abroad, do e-commerce you need a credit card. so why you should have girocard and CC if every use-case is covered by your creditcard?
 
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I totally agree. Nobody asked for girocard like nobody asked for freakin paydirekt. If you do a lot of traveling you’ll soon figure out how freakin useless your girocard is. Especially if you go outside of Europe. Most girocards only allow 100 € per day outside of the eu. This is bs. You can’t even pay for your hotel or flight or whatever. It you don’t have a MasterCard or visa you are screwed. Hell even Amex gives you more freedom than freakin girocard.

Girocards will alway need a co badge like maestro. Then why even bother with the girocard in the first place? You can neither pay online with it nor can you make payments outside of Germany. People that keep saying „I can pay with my girocard outside of German!!!“ you guys are wrong you don’t. You pay with maestro or vpay or whatever badge it is on your specific card. And the maestro badge on it is in most cases useless too because there are too many limits. No online paying possible with it either and like I said limits are very low once you leave the eu.

So what is there left that justifies the need of a girocard? Being able to withdraw cash at atms? It’s a selfmade problem. Cash and atms are very expensive ... So some might say now ok shops pay less fee for the girocards. With the littles fees that are being payed this is a stupid argument.

And then there is the problem that transaction always take at least a day until they show up on your balance. Why isn’t it possible to make it instant?

And contactless... girocard contactless sucks. 8 out of 10 Times it fails for me. Funny story my German bank Sparda only introduces nfc girocards in October this year. But you cannot replace yours with a new nfc girocard unless it gets stolen or lost. My girocard is valid until 2022. so I’ll be getting my contactless girocard 2023. I’ve been paying with contactless debit cards since 2015. just another sad example how screwed girocards are.

There is not a single good reason that would make me wanna use my girocard.

I am happy if the girocard dies. Like I said nobody asked for it. Instead of wasting further more money just save it and bring your infrastructure up to date. Cause most banks still live in the 80s or 90s.
 
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Well, I see you are all very passionate about this.

Like I said, I will continue to use my girocard while inside Germany simply because I see no reason for Visa or MasterCard to take a cut of the transactions when there is a cheaper infrastructure already in place.
 
Just some interesting info about bunq: until nov 14th premium members can give away one free premium membership which will not expire. All premium features will be available and no fees whatsoever. Only downside is those accounts will have a 250 € spending limit.

So if you are interested in bunq and know a premium member just ask for the invite. Only four days left.
 
We had this discussion about GC several times. Including the history of development. And still there are false arguments (on both sides). It‘s getting boring...
 
Just some interesting info about bunq: until nov 14th premium members can give away one free premium membership which will not expire. All premium features will be available and no fees whatsoever. Only downside is those accounts will have a 250 € spending limit.

So if you are interested in bunq and know a premium member just ask for the invite. Only four days left.

How to do it? Do you have a Link for this?
 
How to do it? Do you have a Link for this?

If you are premium member you got an email two three days ago. There is a link where you have I click then you can invite one person through the app. You can only invite one person and this person is needs to be a complete new user. Not works if you already have been a bunq customer.
 
Poland, UK, Denmark, Sweden have their own currency.
You mentioned, that only a third of the germany got a CC.

Just imagine: the regular banks offer:

Girokonto + Visa/Mastercard

Everyone would have a creditcard. Most of the people dont care if they got a giro- or creditcard. They just want that it works. Most of the time it does. But only in germany.

If you go to a forgein coutry you can the whos german only by observing them. Girocard doesnt work, going to exchange points to get a silly exchange rate.

I think these are some reasons the germans stay at their cash. Cashless ways to pay are not that client-friendly


The only advantage of the girocard in comparison is getting cash in germany. But that is an artifical problem made by the banks. Hopefully they will not implement girocard to apple pay and let it die. Nobody needs it ;)



my local Sparkasse is offering MasterCards. 30€/year for the debit. 60€/year for a real one.
the requirement is an account. prince range: 3-8,90€/month.

I had both of them. costs me about 170€/year. I started to use the MasterCards only. They took 5,90€ for cash at their own ATM. that was the point I went to DKB

If you spend your holiday abroad, do e-commerce you need a credit card. so why you should have girocard and CC if every use-case is covered by your creditcard?
Standard MC 25€/ per year. Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf
 
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