Newcomers from card-first economies often notice their credit card is close to useless in Dutch shops and on Dutch checkout pages. Payment habits here grew around iDEAL, debit cards and Tikkie, and no consumer credit score pushes anyone towards using a card at all — which surprises arrivals from the US in particular.
Nobody's being contrarian, it's just that iDEAL and debit cards do the job better here. iDEAL handles nearly all online payments — you click through to your own bank's app, confirm, and it's done, no card number to type or worry about fraud on. In shops, contactless debit (increasingly plain Mastercard/Visa debit rather than the older Maestro network, which is being phased out) covers everything from groceries to a coffee. Tikkie sends a payment link over WhatsApp or SMS, which is how splitting a dinner bill or paying someone back actually happens socially. Credit cards still earn their keep in specific situations: car rental deposits, hotel holds, and some international or subscription sites that don't support iDEAL. Since the Netherlands doesn't run on a US-style credit score, there's little pressure to "build credit" by using one regularly — most people who carry a credit card keep it mainly for travel and deposits, not daily spending.