What does DNE mean?
Ditto for Germany? I heard that they like debit cards, but certainly not credit.
I am guessing Does Not Equal.
Not sure where it comes from, not programming. Perhaps texting?
Does Not Equal. And it’s absolutely true. Tokyo is as different from “Japan” as New York is from “America”.
Cervaise I’ll explain what I meant about the legal system later today when I have more time.
Starting with the basics, there’s no equivalent to a small claims court where you can get quick, cheap judgements without retaining legal counsel. Lawyers are expensive and you’ll hardly ever get your legal costs awarded even if you get a favourable judgement. Damages awarded are pitiful. There’s no such thing as punitive damages, trebble damages or the like. So if someone defaults on a payment, you have very few options. The simplest and cheapest is just sitting down with lawyers are trying to convionce them to pay. Or you can hire “debt collectors”. If it goes to court it will take ages to resolve and you will be out of pocket for your legal costs.
You can even see this sort of attitude with large companies. I’ve known more than a few people in Japan who have taken advantage of the fact that most companies don’t really punish severely at all for defaulting on a payment. What could amount to a 35 dollar fine or more in the US is usually only on the order of a couple hundred yen in Japan, accompanied with an ever-so-mildly stern letter.
I had to look up debit card, I didn’t know the term.
Yes, both in Germany and the Netherlands, debit cards are the standard.
This, exactly, is how it works in the Netherlands and Germany. We call it our PIN-pass. PIN stands for Personal Identification Number, as that number is required in all electronic transactions, serving as a password. Our verb for using our PIN-pass is “to pin”. “Here is your purchase, madam. Would you like to pay in cash, or would you like to pin?”
Oh yeah, and I forgot, even if you DO win in court there is no mechanism to enforce the judgment !!
The main reason I own one credit Visa is because some businesses and payments (mostly online stuff or the security on hotel reservations) require one.
Rent in Scotland, mortgage in Spain, utilities in both: direct debit.
Transfer money from Spain to Scotland monthly: repeating e-transfer set up in my Spanish bank as soon as I got a Scottish account.
Transfer money from my “company” account to my “me” account (I’m self-employed): e-transfer done manually every month via internet.
If I can pay a business expense using the direct debit card that’s linked to my business account, I do, but that’s for ease of tracking. easyjet charges me less for using that Visa electron than a credit Visa (the electron can’t bounce later, either I have funds or I don’t).
I usually take 200€-200GBP out of the ATM when I visit it and need cash. I’ve seen American friends use a credit card to pay for less than $10 - the thought would never cross my mind, not for such a small amount.
My credit card is on “full payment every 1st of the month.” The other options I have are “divide each purchase in three monthly payments” and “fixed amount (or less) every month.” I’ve never had any credit card on any kind of payment except “full payment ASAP.”
Once when I was living in the USA I used a credit card to buy a computer which was just a little under my credit limit; on the way home, with the computer in the trunk, I stopped at an ATM and paid it in full. Do banks get any interest for a debt lasting less than one hour? A week later I got a letter upping my credit limit. That’s not a banking system, it’s a black hole!
In the States, most debit cards are Visa or MasterCards, so what looks like paying with a credit card might be just using it for debit. In the States, I hardly ever carry more than a few dollars–you can pay for everything via debit card and it’s faster and easier than paying with cash.
In the UK we have a PIN-number, which stands for Personal Identification Number-Number. It gives pedantic folk like Dad plenty to moan about 
It’s about time that they abbreviated “PIN-number” as PINN, so that people could talk about their PINN numbers.
Also, the dollar isn’t worth much anymore. Just don’t try it with yen.
I often make small charges on my credit card, although I used to prefer cash/debit card. My card used to not offer any incentives, but a couple of years ago they started awarding points that can be redeemed for gift certificates and other items. So I figured I might as well take advantage of that.
If I had trouble paying my credit card bills I would try to resist the temptation of incentives, but I’ve always treated my credit card as if it were a debit card. I don’t EVER charge anything I couldn’t pay off immediately, and I do in fact always pay it off online within a week or two. (I don’t even wait for my monthly credit card statement.) Using a credit or debit card instead of cash also means I have a nice record of exactly how much I’ve spend and where I spent it.
Saving receipts and entering the pertinent information into GnuCash gives me an even nicer record of exactly how much I’ve spent, where I’ve spent it, and on exactly what categories of items. 
It also serves as a horrible reminder that I spend too much of my money on food and beer/wine. 
I don’t know how good fraud protection is in other countries, but one reason I use credit cards for transactions (and generally try to pay the balance off immediately) is the fact that if worst comes to worst, I’m only liable for $50 worth of the purchase. If I get ripped off when paying with my debit card, I have to take the matter up with my bank, and in my experience it tends to be messier.
I’m curious as to how countries that don’t use checks send funds over the mail. Money orders? Wire transfers? Here in the states, checks are free with direct deposit (your paycheck gets automatically desposited in your checking account).
I’m really surprised how credit card phobic some places are. Credit cards (when used responsibly, mind you) are great for emergencies, easily replaced if lost/stolen, you’re not liable for much if someone swipes it and goes on a shopping spree, etc. I would never carry around hundreds of dollars in cash, not just the theft aspect, but if I lost it for one reason or another, its not replaceable.
Maastricht you say you never heard of a credit rating up until recently- how the heck do people buy cars/houses/other big purchases where you live? Here in the US, even (again, as I said before) being fiscally responsible, there are some things that are just not practical to save up for.
Interestingly, debit cards never took off either. Before moving to Japan, I would pay all my groceries with my debit card. Rarely would I use cash day-to-day.
Now, of course, it’s all cash all the time.
This hasn’t been mentioned yet, but in large cities rechargeable cards like Suica are very popular. They are originally for paying train fares but are accepted at many stores. You just flash your wallet close to the reader and the charge is automatically taken from your card balance. You can also use certain mobile phones in a similar fashion.
For online shopping, which is quite popular, apart from credit cards and direct bank transfers, there is also a service provided by the courier companies that allows you to pay in cash when the goods are delivered to you.
And, to confirm, revolving payment is most definitely legal and common: UFJ Card revolving payment (in Japanese).
Seriously, getting involved with the Japanese banking system is far less trouble than dealing with foreign banks daily. Opening a bank or even a postal account is no trouble at all and will make your life much, much easier.
This reminds me of the fuss that the university made the first time I lived in Japan. I didn’t really see much importance of a Japanese bank account (my visa status forbade me from working, so I wasn’t going to have any money to save). I just used my Fifth Third card at the local post office to withdraw whatever money I needed from my US account. But I HAD to get that bank account. They insisted that I couldn’t do anything in Japan without that bank account. :rolleyes:
I opened it with 5000 yen and I haven’t touched it since. It is still open to this day. I figure that, should I ever end up back in the Tokyo area, it might be nice to have a UFJ account, even though here in Niigata it is practically useless for me.
I still have my IC card, too. The stations around Niigata City accept them, as well as those in Nagaoka, but nothing remotely around where I live. I don’t use the trains as much, though, so I hardly notice. They were handy for getting a quick coffee or bottle of water. Nicer to just swipe a card than to fumble for loose change.
I actually track all my expenses in what a friend has dubbed my “Obsessive Financial Spreadsheet of Doom”. I normally save all my receipts in my wallet until I can enter them, regardless of how I paid, but it’s nice to have the credit card record as backup.
I don’t really “deal with foreign banks daily.” My bills are paid automatically through the inexpensive service we use, and I get cash at the american ATM every couple of weeks on base. I deal with anything else online. We still have US bills to pay, and having dual checking accounts really makes no sense. My husband’s military job is not going to deposit his paycheck in a Japanese bank, so we’d have to take out cash from our US bank and put it in the Japanese account…why? I’m not seeing any advantage, here.