The US have a monopoly on credit card payments with Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Diners Club, etc.
Even with online payment systems like PayPal, GPay, Apple Pay.
The only Canadian option that I know of is the new Shop Pay, which is owned by Shopify. (And we all know the founder CEO, Tobias Lutke is a far-right fascist traitor who loves the idea of being a 51st state.)
Right now Visa and Mastercard are controlling what stores can sell, and what services can be provided. Censoring online content, like asking Steam and Itch.io to remove certain games.
What are examples of alternatives in other countries? I know that Japan, for example, has their own independent ones, I think?
Do you think they might be refused by American companies in order to keep their monopoly?
I’d like to know what you think.
A few years ago I made the choice to switch all of my purchasing from debit to a credit card. So far it’s been entirely the right decision for me. Besides the safety of never using my own funds directly, I earn points and perks on my purchases.
Disclaimer: I pay the card off completely every month so there are no interest charges, and it’s resulted in both my credit rating and available credit skyrocketing far more than I’ll ever need. Comforting for emergencies.