Ok, so I go to the store. Whip out the little debbie. Beep. Please enter your pin number. WTH? I made up a pin number 5 years ago but never used it. Cancel the transaction. Rescan the DEBIT card. Click credit card. Beep, thank you.
So what is the difference if I claim my checking account Debit Mastercard is a debit card or credit card? If i say CC, no issues. If i say DebitC they want a PIN. With the same card!!! Why?
If you use it in Credit Card mode, the transaction is completed over the Visa or Mastercard network, which requires a signature for authentication. In Debit Card mode, the transaction is completed over the ATM network, which requires a PIN number for authentication, just like when you get cash at the ATM.
Banks charge the stores different fees for debit or credit cards. It’s much cheaper for a store if you use it as a debit card. (As an aside, this may be why the card readers that Wal-Mart uses have the same button dedicated to English for the language selection and the Debit selection - many people mis-hit and wind up using it as debit.) However, many banks are charging people to use their check cards as debit at point-of-sale (my bank just instituted a $0.35 fee for each such usage a couple of months ago).
You can also get cash back if you run it through as debit, but not if you run it through as credit.
Hmm. My bank is trying to encourage its clients to use the cc part of their ATM card by some kind of thing where you could win x dollars if you sign for sales. Now I see from an above post that their ulterior motive may be to suck more money from the retailer store. :dubious:
I’ve noticed that I need to pay a $1.00 charge when I enter my PIN number(unless I’m at my bank). Will using it in “CC mode” change that?
A major difference with debit cards is that they are legally different from credit cards, thus the various laws that have been passed providing some protections to credit card users do not apply.
In practice, this is no longer of as much importance, since customer resistance & competition have forced most banks to offer customer protection policies on their debit cards similar to those on credit cards.
Still, these are usually only ‘bank policy’, and the rules usually allow the bank to change this policy just by sending you a fine print notice stuffed in your monthly bank statement. Whereas credit card rules are set by law/regulation, and not as easily changed.
Also be aware that using it in CC mode bring in Federally mandated consumer and anti-fraud protections that are completely absent from debit card transactions. A fraudulent debit card transaction can suck your checking account dry, and it can take much longer to get it fixed (if you ever do) To avoid problems, I quit using the debit card sidewhen my local bank combined the debit and credit cards. AFAIK, Federal laws still leave debit card transactions -and by extension, the account underlying the debit card, unprotected.
I’d welcome corrections with reliable cites, but until then, I’m sticking to the “I’ve never used the debit card capability” defense.
I just read recently (too lazy to google and provide a cite) that starting some time next year, Wal-Mart will refuse to process Mastercard transactions in credit mode when the card is capable of debit transactions!
So my big question is, my every day use credit card has an ATM capability – I have a PIN number whereby I can withdraw money from an ATM machine. This is treated, of course, as a cash advance with a higher interest rate (and no grace period!). So… is my credit card going to be forced into cash advance mode if I ever decide to shop at a Wal Mart again?
<side question>
Curiously enough, there’s a SINGLE store (where we buy groceries) where this card NEVER works when slid through the reader – it always comes back DENIED (yeah, the scanner works and it goes through the network and comes back denied). But when I ask the cashier to type the number in, it always works. Any ideas, or should I start a new thread?
</side question>
Yes. Your bank will charge the store instead.
Only if you enter your PIN.
Which type of card is pushed and when depends on the bank and whether or how much it profits from the transanction.
Debit cards transfer it straightway out of your account into someone else’s.
With a Cred Card you may have up to nearly two months to pay but someone has to pay the interest on the $ amount. Since it is not you it is usually the merchant, not the bank or CC company.
And ALWAYS pay off the full amount before the due date to avoid the userous interest rates and/or late charges.
“Beware of the Cog”
Which type of card is pushed and when depends on the bank and whether or how much it profits from the transanction.
Debit cards transfer it straightway out of your account into someone else’s.
With a Credit Card you may have up to nearly two months to pay but someone has to pay the interest on the $ amount. Since it is not you it is usually the merchant, not the bank or CC company.
And ALWAYS pay off the full amount before the due date to avoid the userous interest rates and/or late charges.
“Beware of the Cog”
But when a debit card is used in “credit card mode” I assume the funds come right out of your bank account, the same way they would for a regular debit transaction?
Also, I am interested in the statements above that using a debit card in “credit card mode” will confer fraud protection, settling disputes with the vendor, etc. Is this really accurate?
I’m interested because my bank just sent me a new ATM card. It has a Mastercard logo on it, and a big sticker that says “this is not a credit card.” The enclosure from the bank recommends that if I use it at a store, I should say it’s a credit card. So naturally I am a bit confused.
Yes, the funds are authorized and held when the card is swiped. The funds come out when the store runs the batch at the end of the day (or sometimes the next day or two).
I’ve charged back things purchased on a debit card just as easily as a real credit card. Just a call to the bank.
IME stores can’t tell the difference between a debit and credit card at the POP. Most if not all credit cards now also have PINs for cash advance. If you tell them it’s a debit card, they may want you to use your PIN so you get charged the fee instead of them.
I’ve noticed that most of my local machines appear to try to trick you into using the debit feature. First you have to select debit or credit. Then, if you’ve selected credit, the damned thing asks, “do you want to enter your PIN?”
Am I correct in assuming this is a transparent attempt to reverse your transaction back to a debit transaction? Has anyone gone after CVS for pulling this stunt?
My grocery store does exactly the same thing as in the OP when I scan my Visa check card.
Here’s how you operate it if you want to use it as a credit card:
Or, just tell the cashier that you want to use your card as a credit card. If they can’t accomplish that, then take your business elsewhere, because they’re not complying with Visa’s retailer rules.
And they should not be charging you a fee to process your payment as a credit card transaction, either.
Here’s the first Google news link I found for the Wal-Mart thing I mentioned above.
So, somehow the machine will know whether a Mastercard is a debit card or a real credit card? I guess so, since car rental companies do the same thing, right? My seldom-used Mastercard-branded ATM card would then not work as a credit card at Wal-Mart. I guess I’m lucky and care about neither my bank’s ATM card or Wal-Mart. But if I cared, I’d say something about boycotts if it didn’t mean getting booted off to IMHO.
There’s been a way to tell for years. Many years ago, I used to carry a “credit card” issued by a credit union which was actually a debit card. I had a couple instances where a retailer looked at it, and said “sorry we don’t take debit cards”. In spite of the fact that to me it didn’t look any different than any other Visa / Mastercard (I forget which it was).
Eventually, I thought about it, and I’ve specifically refused to have a debit card against my bank account. Even if the same $50 limit protection applies in the case of theft, I would much rather find myself straightening out the credit card bill than trying to get back the money withdrawn from my account.
Yes. You can tell from the beginning of the account number, called the BIN (Bank Identification Number).
Although if I’m not mistaken, the store that refused to take the debit card violated its agreement with Visa or MasterCard. After all, they are supposed to be accepted anywhere the credit cards are accepted, right?
In a similar vein, I had a clerk at Best Buy ask to see my ID when I used a debit card. (I don’t remember what I told her it was, since I always have the option on the screen of entering a PIN or not, so it doesn’t matter what the clerk thinks it is.) I told her it was against Visa’s rules, but she said it was store policy.