(GRR, Where’ s the “Smack” smiley when I need it)
Ok so I find out Wal-Mart and tons of other stores are now refusing my “credit” debit card. I can’t just sign away liek a credit card, they now officallly make me use a PIN code. It’s a Mastercard Debit Card, and I “lost” the PIN shortly after I opened this bank account for safety. So Do I see my local bank or call MAstercard to reset my PIN?
The issuing bank would be the one to take care of it.
But, an easier solution might be to use it as credit anyway. At Wal-Mart for example (which seems to go back and forth on this policy seasonally…sometimes your card defaults to debit, soetimes you get the credit choice from the start), you can simply hit “Cancel” when it asks for your PIN and it will give you all the payment options, including Credit.
They do this because they pay a credit card surcharge (a couple percent) to Visa or MC when you use a credit card. Since check cards have debit as an option, they try to make them default to debit mode, so that they avoid the surcharge. The problem (for you, not Wally World) is that some banks may treat it as an ATM style transaction, and charge you a fee.
But, like I said, at Wal-Mart you can just hit cancel and be given the option for Credit. This is true every other place I know that does the same thing. The fact is, since it works as a credit card, and has a valid CC number, you have to be allowed to use it as a regular MasterCard.
There’s probably a phone number on the back of the card you can call to make sure, but when I lost the PIN for my Mastercard ATM card, I went to the bank.
-Lil
This may not be true any longer. Wal-Mart stated several months ago that sometime early this year (2004), they’d just all out refuse to accept debit Mastercard transactions. Unless… you’ve discovered a bug in their system!
Go to the bank. They will have to physically run your card through a programming device.
No, you can call the bank and request that your PIN be sent out to you. They’ll make you jump through hoops to identify yourself but will mail it.
Actually, Wal-Mart is probably not forcing you to use your PIN.
Their new software does read your card and determine that it is a debit card (to “make it easier” for you by not having to choose). However, if, after swiping the card, you press “Cancel,” the display should ask how you wish to pay. If you select “Credit,” the device should process your card as a credit card.
(I would guess that that practice is universal, although there may be clerks who have not been taught how to bypass the software’s assumptions (and there may be individual store managers who (for whatever reason) don’t want customers to have a choice. (As uniform as Wal-Mart is, I really doubt that they are implementing software changes piecemeal.))
I discovered the problem too, only my situation seems to be worse. My card is issued through a non-bank investment institution, so I have an actual checking account, etc. It is a debit card that is supposed to act as a credit card anywhere except at an ATM. Problem is, at Walmart, it won’t read as either. So I am stuck without anything. Good thing my roommate covered the $100 in groceries when I discovered this.
Looks like I will be taking my business elsewhere.
I just used my debit card at Wal Mart not two days ago and had to use it the way everyone here is suggesting - swipe the card, press “cancel” and select “credit”. This is in Charlotte, NC.
Obviously, YMMV
Actually… no.
Now… the system rejects CREDIT as an option. I’ve tried it every single time ive been to walmart since they put this into effect… and it sucks! 
here’s what happens:
swipe card. defaults to debit. hit cancel. pick credit. “wait for cashier to hit credit”. the screen runs through the credit thing, wehere it says card accepted, and then flashes briefly to the signature screen, then goes to the ENTER YOUR PIN screen…
ive tried it numerous times and it just refuses to accept credit as an option… no matter what i pick it always ends up at the PIN screen :mad:
Those bastards.
My fiance told me the same thing the other day, and I didn’t believe her.
Isn’t Walmart required by the credit card companies to accept them as a regular credit card transaction? If it’s got the MasterCard logo on it, it’s a freaking MasterCard IMO.
** * boycotting Walmart * **
I suspect that this is a case where it is better to presume incompetence over malice.
What reason would Wal-Mart have for making it more difficult to take your money? If Wal-Mart forces a PIN, the transaction is an instant debit. If you are overextending your checking account, a number of banks will simply deny the transaction at authorization and Wal-Mart loses a sale. If they accept it as credit, the bank will let it flow through (as long as it does not exceed some predetermined overage limit), Wal-Mart will get their money in a couple of days, and the bank will charge the customer $20 or $35 for an overdraught. All the merchants win.
If it were 1980 and commercial interest rates were at 15%, it might be worthwhile for Wal-Mart to force as many transactions through “cash” as possible so that they could earn extra income while hedging on the receipts. At current interest rates, I suspect they would lose more money in lost sales than they would gain in the cash market.
I cannot explain the differences between my experience and that of something clever, especially it it has happened more than one time. (If it only happened once, I would suspect that the cashier or customer was inadvertantly hitting “debit” instead of “credit” on that sale. If it has happened every time, I would guess that it is an issue between Wal-Mart and something clever’s bank. It seems odd that the Wal-Mart POS* software would be different at different locations. (Although, I suppose they might have done something stupid like installing client/server software without making sure that all the distributed clients were identical.))
I do believe this a new policy, because the cashier told my fiance so. It came into effect at our local walmart within a week or two ago. I assumed the same as you, tomndebb, that the cashier was merely incompetent, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.
I know to push cancel to do the credit thingy, and am very anal about doing so, because my bank charges me $1.50 for all PIN related debits. Buying a $15 item, that’s 10% over and above my purchase. If you did it like a credit card, Walmart would pick up the tab to the tune of something like 2% plus maybe $0.05 per transaction.
Good for you, Walmart, you saved 8 cents and lost $15 :rolleyes:
$0.35, even :smack:
I’m still voting incompetence over malice. (It may depend on the bank arrangement in different states.) I was not guessing what the procedure might be–I actually did this on a purchase last Sunday (while watching the two customers ahead of me struggle through the same nonsense). Rex Fenestrarum seems to have had my experience, as well.
So it would seem that it is either badly installed client/server software or it is a regional procedure/decision to handle the same activity differently.
These are directly from the corporate website. This is not a regional or “accidental” thing. Walmart is very deliberately passing on a $1 -2 bank fee to each of their checkcard customers in order to save themselves around a quarter.
The cashiers at my walmart ask if you are using debit or credit when you swipe your card. If it is credit they take the card from you and manually run it through their register.
I generally use debit as I often get money back and my bank doesn’t charge for debit transactions in a store where if I went to an ATM for cash they would charge me.
The WalMart POS system consists of POS registers connected to a pair of servers in the store. The registers do not even have software installed on them - the program resides on the servers (or controllers, to use the proper lingo). Hence WM can install new software in as few or as many stores as it likes. Large retailers will typically pilot a change in a single store, then a few, then a region, then the whole chain. It is a significant logistical exercise to update the whole chain and it is perfectly normal (not incompetence) for it to be done a region at a time.
Have you tried just hitting Enter when you get the PIN screen? I know of implementations that force you down the debit route just as you have described, but if you hit Enter at the PIN prompt, it proceeds as debit.
Source of info: my company develops credit/debit software that works this way. We don’t do Wal*Mart, though, so I cannot guarantee that theirs works the same way.
FWIW…
both my girlfriend and i had this problem… with our washington mutual VISA check cards… so i know it says MC on the website… but visa’s no longer work either…