The Eternal Debit Card

[bigjimaz]

My bank check card (no logos like MC or Visa) has no expiration date. My Bank MC does.

[Bobsentme]

Ok, my:

ATM card (otherwise known as a debit [only] card), has no expiration.

My Check Card (known as a MasterCard branded Debit card) DOES have one.

Our stores do not take debit cards. We have no way of customers to enter their pin numbers, and I don't think it would be a wise idea for them to do it anyways.

We DO take Check Cards, but have to process them as credit cards, no pin required.

There are different rules governing Debit cards than there are Credit Cards, and the mixture of the two caused me nothing but headaches when i worked a small time in my companies Treasury Department.

[Broomjockey]

maybe it makes a difference if you're with a bank or a credit union?

As I said previously, credit union issued debit cards in Canada tend to have expiry dates, since they have to operate under different rules than regular banks.

[lightmylamb]

I just checked my debit cards. My Credit Union has an expiry date and my name, but my scotia bank doesn't have either. I have also never had the option of paying with my debit card over the phone or internet. That's kinda weird, I guess they are different.

[Xieg]

Alright, so we were both a tad bit confused as to what was going on. Good to have that tidbit of info for future confusion.

[prb]

Debit cards in Canada are bank issued, and as long as you take good care of it, they will last you as long as you have it.

There is a *slight* qualification to that statement though. I do believe credit union debit cards are different, as the ones I've seen do expire. But from the actual banks (CIBC, RBC, ScotiaBank, et al.), nope, no expiry. So yes, bank-issued debit cards are vastly different from American ones.

Scotia: No Expiry
CIBC: No Expiry:
TD: No Expiry
Meridian Credit Union: No Expiry
HSBC: Expires, but 3 years before it was issued

As a general rule in canada the bulk of debit cards do not have exparation dates, however they also can not be used to process transactions over the phone or online.

They can be used online if from CIBC, Scotia, BMO, RBC or TD. Just only at a few stores. http://www.interaconline.com/

[Broomjockey]

Scotia: No Expiry
CIBC: No Expiry:
TD: No Expiry
Meridian Credit Union: No Expiry
HSBC: Expires, but 3 years before it was issued

Meridian throws me a bit of a loop, but hey, I'm neither a banker nor an accountant, so I was just going off lay-person knowledge. Now the HSBC one is more interesting, since I've seen a lot of HSBC ones *without* an expiry date. Being a UK-based institution makes things really interesting too.

[BusBus]

Occasionally, I'll get some american residents in my place of business. I'll ask how they want to pay and they'll say "Debit" and hand me a Visa card. Luckily, I am aware of this Debit/Credit thing, so I just swipe the card, get'em to sign and away they go. I always wonder, though, when used outside of the USA, does it automatically get treated as credit or debit, seeing as you are not given the option by the machine?