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European debit cards such as Visa Debit or former Electron are practically no different from a credit card in making online payments. They work just fine. Ther
by veeti 4y ago
European debit cards such as Visa Debit or former Electron are practically no different from a credit card in making online payments. They work just fine.
There are also credit + debit combination cards, which have two different numbers to use. They also let you choose which side to use on the payment terminal.
- moffkalast 4y agoYeah though those aren't true debit cards, at least not in the original sense. They're credit cards that work like debit cards that I mentioned now exist. Actual debit cards are issued by banks and only have the much longer account number on them.
- gsnedders 4y agoHow are they not true debit cards? They are issued by banks, directly debiting from an account. Sure, internally they piggyback on infrastructure originally intended for credit cards, but that's an implementation detail. Maestro, given you mention it elsewhere, doesn't necessarily have longer payment card numbers than most credit cards (which are mostly 16, except for Amex which is mostly 15): it merely has a number made up of a number of different prefixes, and the final section is determined by the issuing bank… and several of these are variable length.
- Cu3PO42 4y agoI think the grandparent may be from a country in which a separate debit network, operated jointly by the nation's banks, exists. In such countries banks have typically issued cards using these networks and they may be seen as "true debit cards". MC/Visa are then often used interchangeably with "credit card", even in instances where they are debit cards on the Visa/MC network. (I'm not arguing this is correct usage of terminology.) Anecdata: I'm from Germany, which is one such country. I've recently had a conversation with someone who had a "credit card" that charges directly to their bank account.