Are there any issues with using credit cards in Germany?

I am from the US and currently traveling through Germany. I’ve found that hotels and rental car agencies have no problems with my chip+signature Visa (I have 3 cards, all from Chase).

What has been frustrating for me is that I cannot use my credit card to purchase DB tickets, either from the website or in person. The website only tells me that the CVV is wrong. I called up both Chase and Visa and they tell me that they didn’t even receive a query and that I should go in person and have the agent manually key in my credit card info. (The agent’s English was really good, but not that good, so I ended up paying in cash.)

In Germany, and many other European countries except for the UK, Maestro is the de facto card-payment method. Many shops do not accept credit cards and if they do, Visa and MasterCard are more widely accepted than AmEx. Now, that does not mean you’ll have to pay cash everywhere. Recently (somewhere in 2015) more shops started accepting credit cards. This includes most bigger shops and warehouses and restaurants. Smaller shops are hit and miss, since the shops often have to account for increased transaction costs.

While a credit card should work nearly everywhere where moderate to big payments are done, you should probably also bring a Maestro card or some cash. Every ATM should accept the 3 biggest cards and there are many possibilities to get a Maestro card.

Note: some small shops will accept NFC payments by phone but no credit cards, although these are somewhat uncommon.

This question is from 2011 and things have improved, even in Germany. As of 2016 you can survive using credit card payments only, but there are still plenty of places that do not accept them.

As a rule of thumb a credit card is more likely to be accepted if

• you are in a metropolitan/touristy area
• with hotel/supermarket/… chains
• for larger sums of money (e.g. at least 20€)
• Mastercard and Visa are commonly accepted, less so American Express and even less Diners Club

This means if you are going to stay with a family-run no-frills hotel in a small town or get a snack from a bakery you should better have an alternative way of payment.

Paying cash still is the norm in Germany for everyday use and people carry more cash compared to e.g. the US – carrying 50-100€ in cash on a regular day (depending on your daily spend) is normal and even more if travelling. If paying by card the standard is the EC-card which would likely be issued by a German bank and works in Europe only. Especially older people use their cards to withdraw money once a month and use cash only.

Likelihood of acceptance of credit cards by spending categories: [keep in mind the general comments above as well]

• ATMs: should accept your card for withdrawals
• Supermarkets: here you can find an overview, in a nutshell as of the end of 2015 all major supermarkets, including discounters, accept Mastercard and Visa
• Train tickets: you should be able to buy train tickets online, at the counter and at most ticket machines with a Visa or Mastercard
• local public transport: depends on the city. Better in major cities, where you could also buy tickets for local transport at the train ticket machines of DB
• taxi: depends on the city, don’t rely on it. At least in Berlin drivers have to accept it, otherwise they are not allowed to carry passengers (but they do charge a small fee for paying by credit card)
• hotels: even in larger cities some small hotels on the lower end of the price spectrum do not accept cards at all. They are usually quite forward about it but read the conditions/fine print when booking.
• restaurants: I would not bet on a regular place where Germans go to eat in the 10-20€ range to accept credit cards. Changes a lot if you go upscale of course or McDonalds and the likes.

N.b. the recent improvement in credit card acceptance is due to new EU regulation capping card fees for merchants since 2015. This triggered the increased acceptance at supermarkets and expect further improvements in the future.

I have never had trouble with using a USA swipe credit card in any ATM machine in Europe.

A core reason is that shops don’t like to accept them, so much that they sometimes even ‘fake’ that they fail (even disconnect the machine and claim it won’t work); or give a discount for higher priced articles when asked. The fees to them are high (as in other countries), but in Germany specially, the EC card (just like a debit card) has taken over the market completely. Most Germans have no credit cards, or only use them while vacationing; many dislike the concept; and some don’t even know what it is. Also, until about last year (~2014), German credit cards didn’t work like US credit cards; rather you were required to have an automatic full payment by deduction every month from your checking account (which makes them even more unattractive).

Hotels, car rental, mid- to high-level restaurant, and chains do generally accept credit cards (foreign as well as German cards). recently, several supermarket chains have also started to accept them, so it is moving to a much broader acceptance.

[I am German, btw., but live in the US, so I know both sides well.]

On a recent trip to Germany (Berlin) (December 2015), my Mastercard Debit card (Chip + Pin) was accepted in all large stores (Karstadt, Ullrich, Kaufland), as well as the BVG Mobile App, but notably not in the U-Bahn ticket machines (per https://www.bvg.de/en/Tickets/Other-ways-to-buy/At-ticket-machines, payment is accepted only in cash or with EC card).

ATMs allowed me to withdraw cash, I didn’t have any problems with them not accepting the Mastercard.

A good solution for me (located in Germany) was to create an account at an online bank like DKB or ING-Diba which is for free. You then get a credit card which you can use at every ATM in Europe or in case of ING-Diba worldwide to get cash without paying fees. The cards are chip based and can be used – if credit card payment is accepted – everywhere for payment. If not you can get cash at the ATM.

If payment is accepted, you can also get cash when paying for goods. Just say to the clerk that you also need a certain amount of money in cash. You’ll get it and your card will be charged with this amount. You can avoid using ATMs/paying fees or save time this way.

If you use these smaller ATMs placed at street corners in Germany be aware of skimming! My account got blocked because of this and I know several people who had the same issue with these kind of ATMs.

I am in a small village in Germany right now and my Spanish Debit card (MC) only works to get money from the bank and in some major restaurants. No supermarkets or small bars accept it.

Edit: There is an interesting question over at money.stackexchange.com explaining that US-issued magnetic stripe credit cards do not work in many european machines that require the card to have a chip:

Sometimes it works, more often it doesn’t. I challenge you to buy a train ticket from a machine anywhere in Europe. It was particularly unnerving on a highway in France trying to pay the toll from a machine which didn’t take cash at an unattended toll booth… none of my credit cards worked except, oddly, American Express.

Germany is indeed a developing country as far as Credit Cards are concerned. Things are changing, at least for Amex, Visa, and Mastercard – but slowly.

Some exceptions:

• Supermarket chain REWE accepts credit cards in most, if not all, stores. There may be a minimum purchase imposed by the local franchisee, I have seen €5 and €10 amounts.

• I have never had any problems buying Deutsche Bahn train tickets with various credit cards (Visa, Mastercard). I cannot testify to how cards issued in other countries are accepted, but there shouldn’t be any problems. (Turns out there may be – see edit above.)

• As @Simon notes, most gas stations accept credit cards.

• The vast majority of hotels accepts credit cards.

Credit Cards in Germany are as useful as stones when it comes to paying for goods.
Either get cash from you credit card in a real bank during business hours (Most ATMs only handle EC cards), or get your own EC card if you plan to stay longer.

I was working for a shop in Germany a few years ago and they wanted to accept credit cards for internet payments; however the payment provider charged way too much for this service (5% transaction fee or so?) so that’s probably one of the reasons why credit cards are not popular in most stores.

The other difference for the customer is that most banks only let you spend the money you have in your account when using EC cards, so you don’t get credit but a “not enough funds” message when you run out of money.
However you can apply for an overdraft limit (called “dispolimit” in German) on EC cards, or your account for that matter.

In short: yes (there will be issues).

Mostly, credit card acceptance in Germany is still the exception rather than the norm. There are a couple of places, however, where you can expect at least Visa and MC to be accepted, most notably ATMs and gas stations.

Be prepared to pay in cash everywhere else.