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Germans are traditionally rather economical. It is rare to take out a loan for a vacation etc. In addition, credit cards were not very common until recently. You pay in cash or with a so called EC card (Girocard) which is linked directly to your checking account.
credit cards were not very common until recently
Interesting. It's probably not a good path to go down.
Yeah, but Germans are fiercely opposed to the abolition of cash. You can pay cash almost everywhere.
Hold strong, Germany.
I'm a little surprised that Germans aren't drawn to the seeming efficiency of electronic money.
It has something to do with the "Deutsche Mark (DEM)" which was the Fiat currency West-Germany had before the EURO was introduced in 1999. The D-Mark was what I would call "sound Fiat". Very stable, strong. Many cry after the DEM. In addition, the wall came down in 1989 and all East Germans were able to exchange their worthless communist money at a ratio of 2:1 "only cash is king" so to say.
no comparison to the United States. i just looked, about 75 billion euros of the 1.2 trillion euros of consumer debt is on credit cards in Germany.
What's the rest? Are mortgages counted as consumer debt?
Yes. Mortgages are part of it
To what degree are regular Germans living off of credit cards or other forms of borrowing?