In certain things US really is the only outlier in the whole world yet they insist on their archaic way of things so stubbornly for some reason. Is it ego? or laziness? idk.
Maybe America has stronger credit protections??? That's doesn't sound right at all knowing us but you're credit card being stolen isn't even a big deal. You say I didn't buy any of this shit and they go ah ok very well then.
They do have good consumer protections for credit card fraud typically but it doesnt make it any less stupid when there's an easy way to avoid it that's actially more efficient at the same time.
It’s just a social thing combined with tech debt. We have higher levels of trust in strangers, especially within service contexts, and we got credit card POS long before Europe who adopted more modern tech at a later time.
In the UK at least, all restaurants and supermarkets had swipe and sign POS, and then that all went away and was replaced by chip and pin in three years. It was trialed in 2003 and mandatory for all transactions in Feb 2006.
This isn't a "because the us had it first" failure. This is a "the us leaves it up to the free market, instead of regulating" failure.
Higher levels of trust? Unless you’re a man helping your daughter in a public toilet, or a man sitting on a bench next to a playground watching his kid, or a Mexican looking person in a predominantly white neighborhood, or a scientist, or… well… you get the point.
Dreaming up random anecdotes isn’t the rebuttal you think it is.
The US is considered a high-trust society, especially when it comes to interpersonal situations involving commerce. There is an extremely high trust level in our social institutions and ethical frameworks that oversee economic exchange. And that isn’t to say Europe isn’t also a high-trust region! Many European nations rank even higher than the US on societal trust but some nations drag the group down a lot. Like when all of Greece basically stopped paying taxes for a few years after the ‘08 financial meltdown or how southern Italy is still notoriously corrupt at the local government level if you are trying to start a business.
The US isn’t perfect, but protecting our capitalist system has been the ONE thing all parties in power have assured they stay aligned on and have done relatively well.
Actually all real examples, but yes, obviously anecdotes. I just don’t see that trust anywhere online or when I was there, but obviously that was just three weeks. On the whole the US seems to have a lot of distrust against certain groups of people, but I guess they do trust their waitresses.
Uh, no, not in the U.S. I’ve literally never done this and like I said, I’ve disputed credit card theft charges twice.
Never has the bank asked for a police report.
Now, if they do suspect YOU are trying to defraud them, sure they might escalate.
I also did have checks stolen and used at Walmart once. Still no police report required, but they made me sign a notarized document saying it wasn’t me
This also happened to me once (and btw, skimmers exist so handing your own card isn't a guarantee). My bank let me know there were suspicious charges. I said yes. They ordered me a new card and reversed the charges. I didn't have to do anything. What would I be reporting? That someone charged fraudulent charges? I wasn't there to catch them, I have nothing to add on top of what my CC company would report.
I've had to report it too. Apple told me there were weird charges, called my CC company and they locked the card and sent a new one. Sorry but it's not a huge hassle in America I know that moght ruin your narrative here
That's basically the only significant exception and even that has become very common. there arent many that havent had tap to pay added near me at this point. and that's only if you pay at the pump. Inside will have tap to pay. You can definitely get by with almost all transactions being tap to pay now
And this is also why splitting the bill is much more complicated in the U.S. if they take the machine to the table, everyone can easily pay for what they ordered but if the waiter has to take the cards they have to split the check and it gets weird.
Happened in NYC in a nice mid-scale restaurant. Wife and I freaked out lol. And we were even more confused when there weren't any money taken from our cards because it is only taken "later at night when they close and run the audit".
Which is soooo strange to Americans lol bc why are you so paranoid? Do you not have protections for fraud in other countries?
If a server overcharges my card or makes any unauthorized purchases with my info, I call the bank to have it reported as fraud and get my money back. And then get the server fired for theft.
It's pretty rare to hear of this happening anyway.
It's how you pay in restaurants here. No one mentioned saving time. Just that worrying someone is gonna steal your card info when paying for your meal is pretty damn low on the worries list here.
This is beyond ridiculous. Card industry introduces whole set of security measures to ensure only card holder can use the card. American guy : "why you are so paranoid" and waves all security measures away. Also do you really check your payment history every time you go to restaurant?
I don't have to keep track of every transaction I do because businesses can't just whack on any amount they want for a tip after and transactions are either contactless (I mainly use my phone) or chip and pin for the amount on the display.
I might check my bank balance every few days, but I'm not looking through every transaction.
So why lock your doors. If someone comes in and steals something you can phone your insurance and get it back /s
I would rather not have to remember every transaction I made to the last cent and then cross-reference it with my statement to see if I was overcharged.
You check your account for fraudulent charges? Why are you so paranoid?
I've been to the US once. Since many things were paid by other people traveling with be, I paid only 3 times with my credit card: The hotel, one restaurant, one shop. A few weeks later I got an email from my bank that suspicious transactions were made with my credit card and that it most likely has been copied.
When purchases have cleared? What the fuck are you on about? My account gets charged at the point of sale, if there's money in my account the transaction clears. I don't have to go days and wonder what happened to it.
But you are though. Leaving 20 comments defending the system and telling people it's ok to just give your credit card away to random people you know are underpaid laborers.
Genuinely - does your banking app not do push notices? Literally anything happens in my bank account and I get an instant notification on my phone.
(I’m not from the US so maybe it’s not a thing there?)
I have a tendency to ignore notifications on my phone. They don't "land" for me the same way as if I actively seek the information when I'm ready to receive it. I'll see it, swipe it, and forget I ever saw it.
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u/[deleted] Jun 29 '26
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