Bulgarians quite readily and quickly adopt innovations, despite the fact they are often considered realists and even pessimists as people. But when it comes to really useful new tools and services, there is little room for hesitation. That is how for about 20 years, the number of electronic bank cards in the country has reached that of the population. Naturally, infants and minors cannot own this modern means of payment, so that in practice it turns out that many Bulgarians have several debit and credit cards. A recent study by one of the largest companies in the world shows that nearly half of Bulgarians would pay with debit cards if the respective store had POS terminal, when it came to purchases over € 15. Another preferred way to use the plastic cards is for drawing cash from an ATM. The number of ATMs in Sofia alone reaches 1000. On the other hand with the shrinking of the gray sector of the economy salaries of employees are more often paid through bank transfers, which is also a prerequisite for the more frequent use of the cards. The large number of Bulgarian retirees also receive their pensions on bank cards. We should add to this the boom of e-commerce, which is actually impossible if one did not possess a bank card.
As a result the number of bank cards in the country exceeds 7 million. Of course, debit cards prevail and their number is 7 times greater than that of credit cards. Visa and Maestro dominate the market and their cards reach 80 percent of the total number of bank cards in use.
Often when it comes to the use of bank cards, people mention the risk of frauds, forgery and identity theft. This causes many people to be extremely cautious and have a negative attitude towards electronic payments on the Internet, for example. In Bulgaria there are no firm guarantees that your PIN would not be revealed and your money stolen from the card. However, the problem is more psychological than real, since experts say bank card crimes last year in Bulgaria were modest, reaching a total of 4 million. euros.
English: Alexander Markov
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