invalid card type, what?

[sweetj82]

we call it a bank card no matter how you use it the money come right out of your bank account. They are visa or mastercard.

[Whiskey]

Debit cards are much harder to get money back if it is stolen and used. Much much harder. It comes straight from your account, can cause over draft fees

How would someone use a debit card (assuming you mean a card without a visa logo)? I figure my card is fairly secure since you cant use it without my PIN.

we call it a bank card no matter how you use it the money come right out of your bank account. They are visa or mastercard.

Except it doesnt. Theres a wait period on "credit" transactions so if you dont track your money and a purchase hasnt gone through, youll see more money in your account than you have. Its no excuse out of personal responsibility, but its not the same thing. When I enter my pin for debit, it literally comes directly out. If you swipe for credit, it doesnt. And a place that only takes credit does not take debit. Like i said, I have to be extra careful and clear because my card does not have a visa logo. Saying you accept "bank cards" or "debit" when you swipe as credit is a pain in the butt.

[sweetj82]

i have never seen a bankcard with no logo.

[Whiskey]

i have never seen a bankcard with no logo.

looks like that

[Mytical]

How would someone use a debit card (assuming you mean a card without a visa logo)? I figure my card is fairly secure since you cant use it without my PIN.

It can be used as a credit card, and if so needs no pin. Online purchases are especially bad about this.

[Whiskey]

It can be used as a credit card, and if so needs no pin. Online purchases are especially bad about this.

does no one read any part of any thread? My debit card is a debit card, as i've stated NUMEROUS times in this thread. There is no visa logo, you cant use it for online purchases. Thats why I was asking how, if at all, my card could be used if stolen. Hell, when you quoted me its in. the. quote. that its "assuming you mean theres no visa logo."

[Mytical]

Your card should be perfectly safe, though you might want to watch out for 'skimmers'.

There are people who watch what you put in as a pin, and have devices that can 'skim' your card (get the numbers, etc). Then yes, they can take a blank card..make a duplicate of yours and use it. However, it is a lot harder.

[Darkforge]

I'm just confused as we do things differently over here in England

We have debit (ATM/switch/solo) cards and credit cards (Visa/mastercard). when making purchases the systems auto detect what it is and if its a debit card it debits your account directly, if its a credit card it credits it (No options to choose whether to run it as debit/credit) and all transactions using a card in a shop require a PIN to be entered.

basically for the person using the card the only difference it makes at all is whether the charge appears on your credit card or your bank statement

[Andara Bledin]

How would someone use a debit card (assuming you mean a card without a visa logo)? I figure my card is fairly secure since you cant use it without my PIN.

Either a hack or leaked bank information.

I've had my account attempt to be used twice in the last decade. The first time was someone trying to use a card with my number from somewhere across the country. I'm glad they didn't try for a lower amount, however, because they were only about $10 over what I had available. The second time was a brute force hack at a local 7/11. As soon as I saw the history, I called the bank, and after they got a promise from me that I would prosecute if the perpetrator was caught, they put everything back immediately.

In both cases, they were using the debit service for my card. If the first had tried to go the credit route, they likely would have succeeded. I recently had my card decline as debit (because I didn't have the money), but it ran fine as credit. Needless to say, I put more cash in my account post-haste so when the credit charge hit, it was covered. If I wasn't in the middle of nowhere with no gas and no money (car emergency in the middle of the desert the weekend after Christmas >_< ) I wouldn't have done it.

I'm just confused as we do things differently over here in England

It is confusing in the US.

We have straight ATM/debit cards that can do nothing but draw money from the bank account with the use of a PIN. We have straight credit cards that work as credit cards. And these days, we have hybrid cards that work as either ATM/debit cards or secured credit cards, and it's up to either the customer or clerk to make that determination.

^-.-^

[Food Lady]

I fail to see why this is confusing, but it apparently is. I'll have customers who swipe a debit card that happens to have a VISA or Mastercard logo and get confused when the reader asks them to enter a PIN. That is the default mode for a debit card, period. So I ask, "Do you have a PIN?", 'cause you know, they look confused. Response? "No, it's a credit card." No, it's not. If it was a true credit card, it would not have asked for a PIN. I don't understand this. Do they not know it comes out their checking acct? Scary.

[Wenchie]

They way my bank explained it to me:

An ATM card is only good at an ATM. They don't give many of those out anymore. You can't use these at a store. Or at least you never used to be able to. Maybe that changed, but since my bank doesn't give those out anymore, I wouldn't know.

A Debit card is linked to your bank account but also has a Visa/MC logo and can be used as either Debit (meaning you enter your 4 digit pin) or Credit (which means that it runs like a credit card and you sign for it.)

I use my Debit card all of the time, mostly as "Credit" and sign for it. The money still comes out immediately from my bank account. I go home and it shows on Pending transactions (because it's night when I check) and it's out of my account the next day. If I use it as a Debit (with the pin) the money takes the same amount of time. There is NO difference time-wise with my bank on if I use my Debit card as Debit or Credit.

Some companies prefer you to use it as Debit because they don't get charged Credit Card fees that way (or else the fees are lower) so when they ask me "Debit or Credit" I usually reply with "Whichever is easier for you." And they tell me to either sign or put the pin in. ^_^

[Wenchie]

does no one read any part of any thread? My debit card is a debit card, as i've stated NUMEROUS times in this thread. There is no visa logo, you cant use it for online purchases. Thats why I was asking how, if at all, my card could be used if stolen. Hell, when you quoted me its in. the. quote. that its "assuming you mean theres no visa logo."

Ahhh.... my bank doesn't call those debit cards. Those have always been called ATM cards. I've always been told that it's only called a "debit" card if it has a Visa/MC logo. So maybe terminology is different in different parts of the states or for different banks? That would explain the confusion.

[Darkforge]

A Debit card is linked to your bank account but also has a Visa/MC logo and can be used as either Debit (meaning you enter your 4 digit pin) or Credit (which means that it runs like a credit card and you sign for it.

ahh, thats where the confusion came on my part, In England all cards, used to require a signature, then when they introduced chip and PIN, all cards (both debit and credit) transferred over to needing a 4 digit PIN. Also as far as I'm aware in England debit cards are only debit cards, and credit are only credit (though some debit cards have visa/mastercard logos so they can be used in a larger variety of places)

[Magpie]

Oh, interesting. We are still in the process of transferring to chip cards (my credit card is one, neither bank card is, a lot of places don't have the chip card readers yet). Here you sign for a credit card, but we've always had a PIN for a debit, it's never been signature based.

[Chromatix]

In England you can also end up with an ATM card, usually called a cashcard. These are normally associated with the most basic bank accounts that don't qualify for a debit card, and are normally given to minors or people with very bad credit histories.

I don't see how a bad credit history makes one ineligible for a *debit* card on an account where it's supposedly *impossible* to go overdrawn, but whatever.

Over here it is possible to get hybrid cards. These simply have "Visa Debit/Credit" printed on them, and presumably they react the same way as in Yank-land when put into a card reader.

My cards are a Visa Electron (basic debit) and a Visa Debit (supposedly in wider availability). Because neither of them are credit capable, I can't use them with readers that rely on a mobile phone connection, ie. on board the long-distance buses and trains. This has tripped me up once or twice - on one occasion I had to get my own mobile internet connection up and buy a ticket online, while on board a moving train - the debit card worked fine that way!