Card payments

Debit cards

Cardholders use debit cards at the point of sale or in the internet to make purchases debited to their account or at an automated teller machine (ATM) to withdraw cash from their account. Unlike in the case of credit cards, the cardholder’s account is debited immediately.

Some 11 million debit cards are circulating in Austria in 2024. A total of almost 1.8 billion transactions were made, which is an increase of almost 13 percent compared to 2023. Debit cards are the most frequently used cashless payment method at the point of sale and 9 out of 10 card payments are already made contactless today.

Credit cards

Credit card payments are debited at regular intervals. Cardholders receive a credit card billing statement, usually once a month, listing all purchases, and their cost, during that period. Cardholders may pay the amount on the billing statement in full either immediately or after a certain period (charge cards), or they may pay the amount in installments (revolving cards). Cardholders are thus granted a credit with a very short maturity for the period between the purchase and the due date of the bill.

Some 3 million credit cards are circulating in Austria in 2024 (MasterCard, VISA, Diners and American Express), about 2 Mio of them are charge cards and aabout 1 Mio are revolving cards.