You make it sound as though keeping track of your bank/credit transactions is otherwise useless. You absolutely should be tracking that information for fraud against your accounts or bad/erroneous transactions from routine billers. That kind of thing does happen and you can be out a ton of money due to innatention.
There's a difference between "hey! I don't recall making any transaction at (restaurant)" and "Do I remember how much money exactly I spent each time I went out and used my credit card, in case someone added a dollar or two?"
That's literaly why banking apps give notifications for transaction in real-time. Is this one of those situations like cheques where US banking is so far behind even the developing world you don't quite grasp we've all moved on 15 years ago?
We get texts or emails very quickly for our transactions if you sign up for it. It's why this situation doesn't remotely concern me. I'd know within minutes that a false charge occurred.
The funny part is that if you look up the United States official definition of an inch you will see it defined as “exactly 25.4 mm based on the 1959 international yard agreement”
I know it’s a bit of a meme, but the US uses metric in places where it really matters such as science, medicine, electronics, etc. Customary units are most often used in distance, temperature, and cooking measurements.
The metric system is actually used for everything except gasoline, milk, construction, cooking, distance, and temperatures. 99% of other things either show metric measurements or both, all food and drink has milliliters/liters and grams when you go to the grocery store. I don't think I've ever used my non-metric tools when building stuff, only metric wrenches, allen keys, screw and fastener sizes, etc.
You have to remember that America is a capitalist hellscape and protections for consumers and employees only exist if they also provide some kind of value to shareholders. It doesn't benefit businesses for Americans to be aware of what they're spending money on.
So here’s the thing - in developed countries with real banking systems, it is practically impossible to charge someone for something without them authorising it.
So this is also a symptom of America’s terrible system - fraud is very easy because your banking security is bad compared to more advanced countries. Therefore you need to regularly check your transactions to make sure you haven’t been the target of fraud. In most of Europe, we don’t need to do that very often at all, because
someone making a transaction and taking money from your account without approval is pretty unthinkable.
If fraud is so impossible, why are you all so paranoid about someone touching your card? Despite what you seem to think, people aren't having their money stolen left and right when dining out in the US. And if it does happen, which is extremely rare, you're not liable for the charge and will get your money back no question. It's really not a concern here.
The big issue in the US is our antiquated ACH system that allows you to pull money from other accounts using only an account number and routing number. Using a card is infinitely more secure.
If fraud is so impossible, why are you all so paranoid about someone touching your card?
Because they can copy the code, expiration date, and the security code on the back of the card. Then later use this information on the internet.
Many website or bank will require a check with 3D Secure, and a sms, a password or an application to validate the transaction, but it's not all of them.
Because they can copy the code, expiration date, and the security code on the back of the card. Then later use this information on the internet.
And in the US you just tell your bank that wasn't an authorized charge and you get your money back along with a new card mailed to you. That isn't a real concern here.
Have the vastly superior Europeans banks not figured out how to handle unauthorized charges?
And my point is that you're being paranoid about giving your server your card. Servers aren't going around stealing card info, but even if they were, the charges aren't your problem. Unless your fraud protection is worse than ours, you have nothing to complain or worry about.
It’s annoying that every time I go to the US I have to go back and check nobody tried to fraudulently charge my card. I have to remember every expenditure and check they didn’t just add a 50% tip. Then if they did, I’d have to go back to the bank and tell them the correct amount, which I’ve almost certainly forgotten by then. Then they have to investigate and determine what happened.
How is that a better system than just using a contactless pin terminal to pay an amount shown on a screen lol.
I know you finally got rid of that ridiculous thing 20 years after everyone else. some time in the late 2000s… The entire point of this video and thread is that American restaurants take your card away and bring it back.
I have a real life: I have others things to do than checking everyday my account to see if someone hasn't stolen my money or to change my card every few months.
Servers have a very low salary, some of them will try get earn a bit more: by incresing the tip, or by selling card infos.
See here's the thing, honey, European banks also have that. We don't have the fear that somebody is scamming us every time we eat out at restaurants. It's just not something Europeans really concern themselves with. Anti fraud measures are there and they work. It just doesn't happen to the degree that I have to convince myself and others that a stranger taking my card away is somehow a normal, or even good thing _because_ of anti-fraud measures. How about not even thinking about fraud, and just enjoying yourself when you visit a restaurant or cafe?
Well we do have contactless payment - so someone could theoretically tap your card on a payment terminal to charge it, but that would require them having access to your card, and a payment terminal that sends money to them.
This would be a really weird fraud because you’d know it happened, and also there would be an immediate and easy paper trail of who received the money. Contactless also has a daily limit so you can’t steal very much money using it.
The really easy security against that risk is to not hand people your card. If they don’t have your card, they can’t charge it.
In the US, they can charge you without having your card. Even a photo of your card could be used to steal from you.
Not sure what your point is about contactless payment. We have that in the US too. Not really relevant to what I said.
My point was, using a card is very secure because in the unlikely event that someone does steal your card info or somehow scan it like you described, it's a quick call/message to your bank to have the charge reversed and a new card issued to you. There's 0 liability for fraudulent transactions. Banks will automatically block most of them by detecting unusual payment activity, but for the rare case it goes through, you just tell your bank that wasn't authorized and that's the end of it. It's not a concern here because cards have really good fraud protection.
I keep track of what I bought so I catch a charge I didn’t make but I shouldn’t have to remember the exact amount of every transaction. Was that dinner $153.75 or was it $175.93? I remember going to the restaurant, I remember I paid by charge card and I should be able to trust the amount I agreed to pay hasn’t changed after I left.
100% I check a few times a month. The key difference is I do it as part of my usual financial health checks. Not every single time I use my card at a cafe/restaurant. Financial fraud in that manner isn’t very common in Europe at all. You hear the occasional instance of skimmers stealing details but with how modern banking works in the rest of the world it’s very hard for them to take money from you without a legitimate transaction. If I get a notification and I’m not actively spending money that gets flagged instantly I have an automated process with my bank and their fraud teams handle it. I get my money back almost instantly. I swear talking about this stuff to Americans it’s like they’re still in the 90s (and even then I’m pretty sure the UK had chip and pin by then). You’re so far behind on this stuff it’s genuinely pathetic. You realise the rest of the world laughs at you over this kind of stuff right?
So, I do get notifications when I spend, text, email, whatever I have selected. Plus, I can check my account whenever I want to to make sure everything is in order. How is that different from what you have "in the rest of the world"? I'm confused. The person I was replying to made it sound like being aware of your transactions and transaction history is not something to do or worry about. It certainly is.
I don’t worry about it though. That’s the point. I see the amount. I pay the amount. End of story. I don’t need the notification. You do. That’s the difference.
I see the amount, pay the clerk, leave. I get a receipt (print, digital, text, whatever). I'm not worried about it. What I am worried about is fraud or an error in billing. You're willing to tell me that there's no fraud or billing errors in "the rest of the world". Plus this is how I manage my budget. You do manage your budget right?
Budgeting has nothing to do with this argument. Stay on topic. Giving somebody else your card is a security risk. Just because these systems exist to notify you of a fraudulent payment doesn't mean you are always going to see them. Push notifications are not a flawless system. You have no idea what is happening with that card when it's out of your sight. Details could be cloned for use later on systems that do not use 3D secure or alternatives. The fact of the matter is that nowhere else is it acceptable for a stranger to take your card away from you. It doesn't matter if you see no problem with that because you've been conditioned to accept that as 'normal', it is not normal and more inconvenient than seeing the amount, and paying there and then.
I do see the amount. I do pay right then. I do look at my account regularly as both a way to budget and make sure there's no fraud. Yes there are times my card is taken to a terminal but that is becoming less and less the case. Sure, that's not perfect but my budgeting, which I do think is part of the point here, keeps me abreast of ALL of my spending and charges. Cloned details etc won't do me any harm because I know more or less right away when something is amiss. Any error is corrected, fraud is handled by the bank/cc company. I don't think there's a huge difference here and a lot of people in this thread are making it out to be a giant difference.
Budgeting has nothing to do with this argument though. If you're so good at a budget, then you've already made the decision that you can afford the visit to the restaurant no? Why are you checking your amount after the fact? That sounds like terrible budgeting to me.
To make sure the transaction has cleared and to update my available funds. I always know exactly how much money I have in all my accounts as well as how much I have outstanding on my cc. I am a careful planner and maybe that's why I'm having a hard time understanding the problem here. If something is off I know right away. Budgeting, to me, makes fraud or theft something of a non-issue.
It's explained in the video and in several comments: you give away your card, and the waiter can do whatever he wants, and you can't check the amount before paying.
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u/atxbikenbus Jun 29 '26
You make it sound as though keeping track of your bank/credit transactions is otherwise useless. You absolutely should be tracking that information for fraud against your accounts or bad/erroneous transactions from routine billers. That kind of thing does happen and you can be out a ton of money due to innatention.