The only thing I don't want to happen is for the duopoly to be broken up into a billion different little fiefdoms each with their own unregulated space. One of the reasons credit cards are so good is because there's a fuckton of regulations built into the legislation behind them in order to give an individual consumer a fighting chance against the financial industry.
All these fintech companies wanting ACH access to my bank account? If a transaction gets fucked up (i.e. someone puts the decimal in the wrong place) it's my immediate and hard to fix problem. I have to deal with my bank's bureaucracy and their goodwill. In the meantime I have no access to my money. If someone fucks up the same using my credit card number it's one call and the company takes care of it and because it's in arrears I still have all my cash.
Nope. It'll be a cold day in hell before I give any fintech get direct access to my checking account for payments.
That's how it works in Europe (SEPA mandate) and it doesn't appear to be a problem.
In Germany, very few people have credit cards, and mostly for online purchases. Everything else is done via direct debit. Fraudulent charges can be reversed just like a CC payment.
I think, I am living in different Germany, as for last 4-5 years, I only see oma/opa paying in cash. Everyone else carries one form or another of EC Karte or Debit Master/Visa. I rarely see some Gebuhrenfreis now and then, but most people have somekind of Debit ones.
Even certain kebab/doner shops located near bahnhofs now accept cards, but inner area ones are still cash-only. Most asian shops are generally cash-only sadly.
All these fintech companies wanting ACH access to my bank account? If a transaction gets fucked up (i.e. someone puts the decimal in the wrong place) it's my immediate and hard to fix problem. I have to deal with my bank's bureaucracy and their goodwill. In the meantime I have no access to my money. If someone fucks up the same using my credit card number it's one call and the company takes care of it and because it's in arrears I still have all my cash.
Nope. It'll be a cold day in hell before I give any fintech get direct access to my checking account for payments.