The Dutch don't like to buy on credit.

"I think it's in our genes," laughs Arthur Van Essen, marketing manager for American Express Services in Amsterdam.

"The Dutch have an aversion to buying things on credit. We don't have that tradition of the Americans, for example, of paying for things on revolving credit. We tend to spend only what we have."

While Mr. Van Essen won't give any figures, citing the competitive nature of the credit card business, he says he is generally happy with the "dramatic growth" that his business is experiencing in Holland.

"While credit card use is not up to the level of, let's say, the UK," he adds, "There are many opportunities here, especially with the many new industries and of course the Internet which is gaining here also," he comments. "So while you can never sit back, we are quite happy with our level of acceptance."

Van Essen does add, however, that merchant acceptance also isn't at the "level we want it to be".

"But we see that as an industry problem rather than an American Express problem," he adds.

Marcel Woutersen a spokesman for Interpay, one of the largest processors of credit cards, including MasterCard, for many banks in Holland says that there are about 2.8 million Mastercard credit cards in circulation and almost 80,000 merchants have signed up to accept them.

"It's well known that the Dutch don't use credit cards, we use credit cards for vacation and petrol," said Woutersen, "But we are typically a debit card country."

A study done by Hoofdbedrijfschap Detailhandel(HRD), a Dutch Retail Association might provide a clue as to why acceptance isn't as pervasive as in other parts of the world. By their estimates an average credit card transaction costs about EUR 2.5 — a significant amount compared to EUR .22 for a debit card transaction and an even lower EUR .01 for a cash transaction.

 1 2 3 Next >