I 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 ty

I 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.