Can You Ditch Visa and Mastercard Today?

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In May, I wrote that Europe is ditching Visa and Mastercard. A few days ago, I asked if Europe is really dumping them. My answer: Not this year. Probably not next year either.

But that was about Europe. The smaller question is: could I? Today?

Wero has been in my banking app since last year. And I have never used it. Not once.

So, let's go through what a card does all day. And what a European alternative to Visa and Mastercard can do right now. I am in Germany, so that's the view here. It changes from country to country.

Friends

This one works.

Wero sends money with just a phone number or email address. At N26, for example, it arrives in under 10 seconds. Many banks in Germany have it by now.

Other countries have their own apps: Bizum in Spain, Bancomat in Italy, MB Way in Portugal, Vipps MobilePay in the Nordics. Connecting them is the job of the new hub I wrote about last time, and that isn't live yet. So, paying back a friend in Madrid from Wero... not yet.

Also, most of us never paid our friends with a Visa card anyway. So this win doesn't cost Visa much.

Online shops

Now, that depends heavily on the shop.

In Germany, Wero works at Decathlon, dm, Eventim, and Lidl, among others. EPI, the company behind it, says over 48,000 merchants in five countries have taken Wero payments.

But many big ones are missing. In April, Handelsblatt found that none of Germany's ten largest online retailers had Wero. Lidl and Decathlon added it in July. Otto, Ikea, and Zalando were reportedly still reviewing it after five months. Rewe reportedly said no. And in an EHI survey, about three-quarters of retailers said they'd wait and see.

PayPal is no way out either. It's American too.

If something goes wrong, you go to the shop first. After that, there's a dispute process through your bank. How well that works, I can't say. I haven't bought anything with it.

Stores

In a German store, I could do it today. But not with Wero.

Wero at the checkout is planned from 2027 on in Germany and France. Right now, it works in a few places, EV charging for example.

What works is the girocard, Germany's own card system. About 8.3 billion payments in 2025. It's by far the most used debit card here.

And cash. Still 45 percent of all payments in Germany in 2025, says the same Bundesbank study. Also not American.

Most of the euro area doesn't have that first option. 13 out of 21 euro countries have no domestic card scheme at all. There, paying by card in a store basically means Visa or Mastercard.

Everything else

Yeah… that's not looking great:

The girocard doesn't work online on its own. The same ECB speech says so in a footnote: German and Italian domestic cards need an international card scheme on the same card, or an international digital wallet.

Abroad, it's a similar story. Girocards used to carry Maestro as a second logo, which is Mastercard. That's being phased out. New ones usually come with Debit Mastercard or Visa Debit.

The card that avoids Visa and Mastercard in a German store is usually a Visa or Mastercard everywhere else.

Then there's everything that wants a credit card: the hotel deposit, the rental car, many subscriptions from US companies. Wero doesn't do those, as far as I know.

There is always a catch

Wero needs shops. And shops wait until enough people use Wero. Rewe's reported reason for saying no was limited brand recognition.

Also, Wero lives in an app, on a phone run by Apple or Google. Which is kind of the opposite of the whole sovereignty idea. So we're in a weird circle here.

And one card turns into a small collection: Wero for friends and some shops, girocard and cash for stores, and still a Visa or Mastercard for trips and subscriptions.

So for now, "ditching" means carrying more. That isn't a benefit to brag about.

The Bottom Line

So, can I ditch Visa and Mastercard today?

At home, kind of. Everywhere else, no.

Wero is still sitting in my banking app. I should probably try it once. Have you?

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