this post was submitted on 27 Mar 2025
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179
How to get rid of Mastercard and Visa? (feddit.org)
submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by minilemmy@feddit.org to c/buyeuropean@feddit.uk
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Hey guys!

Visa and Mastercard are the 8th and 15th biggest companies in the world, worth more than 1.1T USD (!!!).

For any purchase made with a credit or debit cards and you give them 2-3% of your money.

That's one the biggest waste of money from EU you can imagine.

I'm trying to find viable alternatives but except paying cash it seem there is no real alternative. Even in where I live there is an alternate payment service but they take the money from my mastercard, duh...

And the idea would be to have something even my grandma can use, not some nerdy solution, any thoughts?

Edit: Bitcoin would be a solution if widely adopted, but more realistic would be something accepted by every cashier machine, and if possible using the NFC of your phone, a kind of "Apple/Google" Pay, that goes directly from your bank to the bank's shop. Where I live all debit cards are either visa or mastercard...

Edit2: There is an EU initiative that seem to be starting with WERO, never heard of it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Payments_Initiative

Edit3: It seem that Paysafecard and Skrill are EU solutions and sometimes proposed in the payment method, but not with STRIPE payment solutions

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[โ€“] Sliversun@lemmy.world 18 points 4 days ago (2 children)

A local debit card is your best bet

[โ€“] jagermo@feddit.org 19 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Maestro is part of MasterCard.

[โ€“] Renohren@lemmy.today 15 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

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.

[โ€“] Flamekebab@piefed.social 10 points 4 days ago

TIL Maestro still exists

[โ€“] knightly@pawb.social 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Those still go through the bank card system.

Use cash.

[โ€“] minilemmy@feddit.org 8 points 4 days ago (2 children)

How do you pay cash online?

And I donโ€™t 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

[โ€“] Tuuktuuk@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

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.

[โ€“] TwigletSparkle@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Are these instant transfers if they're not using VISA?

[โ€“] Tuuktuuk@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

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.

[โ€“] knightly@pawb.social -2 points 4 days ago

Some online stores have the option to pay by check or money order, but that only solves half the problem.

The banking system is just a symptom. Money itself is evil and should be destroyed.