Debit card

Canada

Main article: Interac

Canada has a nationwide EFTPOS system, called Interac Direct Payment (IDP). Since being introduced in 1994, IDP has become the most popular payment method in the country. Previously, debit cards have been in use for ABM usage since the late 1970s, with credit unions in Saskatchewan and Alberta introducing the first card-based, networked ATMs beginning in June 1977. Debit cards, which could be used anywhere a credit card was accepted,

were first introduced in Canada by Saskatchewan Credit Unions in 1982.] In the early 1990s, pilot projects were conducted among Canada’s six largest banks to gauge the security, accuracy, and feasibility of the Interac system. Slowly in the latter half of the 1990s,

it was estimated that approximately 50% of retailers offered Interac as a source of payment. Retailers, many small transaction retailers like coffee shops, resisted offering IDP to promote faster service. In 2009, 99% of retailers offer IDP as an alternative payment form.

In Canada, the debit card is sometimes referred to as a “bank card”. It is a client card issued by a bank that provides access to funds and other bank account transactions, such as transferring funds, checking balances, paying bills, etc., as well as point of purchase transactions connected on the Interac network.

Since its national launch in 1994, Interac Direct Payment has become so widespread that, as of 2001, more transactions in Canada were completed using debit cards than cash. This popularity may be partially attributable to two main factors: the convenience of not having to carry cash,

and the availability of automated bank machines (ABMs) and direct payment merchants on the network. Debit cards may be considered similar to stored-value cards in that they represent a finite amount of money owed by the card issuer to the holder. They are different in that stored-value cards are generally anonymous and are only usable at the issuer, while debit cards are generally associated with an individual’s bank account and can be used anywhere on the Interac network.

In Canada, bank cards can be used at POS and ATMs. Interac Online has also been introduced in recent years allowing clients of most major Canadian banks to use their debit cards for online payment with certain merchants as well. Certain financial institutions also allow their clients to use their debit cards in the United States on the NYCE network. Several Canadian financial institutions that primarily offer VISA credit cards, including CIBC, RBC, Scotiabank, and TD,

also issue a Visa Debit card in addition to their Interac debit card, either through dual-network co-branded cards (CIBC, Scotia, and TD),or as a “virtual” card used alongside the customer’s existing Interac debit card (RBC). This allows for customers to use Interlink for online, over-the-phone, and international transactions and Plus for international ATMs, since Interac isn’t well supported in these situations.

Consumer protection in Canada

Consumers in Canada are protected under a voluntary code entered into by all providers of debit card services, The Canadian Code of Practice for Consumer Debit Card Services (sometimes called the “Debit Card Code”). Adherence to the Code is overseen by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC), which investigates consumer complaints.

According to the FCAC website, revisions to the code that came into effect in 2005 put the onus on the financial institution to prove that a consumer was responsible for a disputed transaction, and also place a limit on the number of days that an account can be frozen during the financial institution’s investigation of a transaction.

Chile

Chile has an EFTPOS system called Redcompra (Purchase Network) which is currently used in at least 23,000 establishments throughout the country. Goods may be purchased using this system at most supermarkets, retail stores, pubs and restaurants in major urban centers. Chilean banks issue Maestro, Visa Electron and Visa Debit cards.

Colombia

Colombia has a system called Redeban-Multicolor and Credibanco Visa which are currently used in at least 23,000 establishments throughout the country. Goods may be purchased using this system at most supermarkets, retail stores, pubs and restaurants in major urban centers. Colombian debit cards are Maestro (pin), Visa Electron (pin), Visa Debit (as credit) and MasterCard-Debit (as credit).

Denmark

The Danish debit card Dankort is ubiquitous in Denmark. It was introduced on 1 September 1983, and despite the initial transactions being paper-based, the Dankort quickly won widespread acceptance. By 1985 the first EFTPOS terminals were introduced, and 1985 was also the year when the number of Dankort transactions first exceeded 1 million.

Today Dankort is primarily issued as a Multicard combining the national Dankort with the more internationally recognized Visa (denoted simply as a “Visa/Dankort” card). In September 2008, 4 million cards had been issued, of which three million cards were Visa/Dankort cards. It is also possible to get a Visa Electron debit card and MasterCard.

In 2007, PBS (now called Nets), the Danish operator of the Dankort system, processed a total of 737 million Dankort transactions. Of these, 4.5 million were processed on just a single day, 21 December. This remains the current record. At the end of 2007, there were 3.9 million Dankort cards in existence.

As of 2012, more than 80,000 Danish shops had a Dankort terminal, and another 11,000 internet shops also accepted the Dankort.Finland

Most daily customer transactions are carried out with debit cards or online giro/electronic bill payment, although credit cards and cash are accepted. Checks are no longer used. Prior to European standardization, Finland had a national standard (pankkikortti = “bank card”).

Physically, a pankkikortti was the same as an international credit card, and the same card imprinters and slips were used for pankkikortti and credit cards, but the cards were not accepted abroad. This has now been replaced by the Visa and MasterCard debit card systems, and Finnish cards can be used elsewhere in the European Union and the world.

An electronic purse system, with a chipped card, was introduced but did not gain much traction.

Signing a payment offline entails incurring debt, thus offline payment is not available to minors. However, online transactions are permitted, and since almost all stores have electronic terminals, today also minors can use debit cards. Previously, only cash withdrawal from ATMs was available to minors (automaattikortti (ATM card) or Visa Electron).

France

Carte Bancaire (CB), the national payment scheme, in 2008, had 57.5 million cards carrying its logo, and 7.76 billion transactions (POS and ATM) were processed through the-rsb network (135 transactions per card mostly debit or deferred debit). In 2019, Carte Bancaire had 71.1 million cards carrying its logo, and 13.76 billion transactions (POS and ATM) were processed through its network. Most CB cards are debit cards, either debit or deferred debit. Less than 10% of CB cards were credit cards.

Banks in France usually charge annual fees for debit cards (despite card payments being very cost-efficient for the banks), yet they do not charge personal customers for checkbooks or processing checks (despite cheques being very costly for the banks). This imbalance dates from the unilateral introduction in France of Chip and PIN debit cards in the early 1990s when the cost of this technology was much higher than it is now.

Credit cards of the type found in the United Kingdom and the United States are unusual in France and the closest equivalent is the deferred debit card, which operates as a normal debit card, except that all purchase transactions are postponed until the end of the month, thereby giving the customer between 1 and 31 days of “interest-free” credit. Banks can charge more for a deferred debit card.

Most France debit cards are branded with the CB logo, which assures acceptance throughout France. Most banks now issue Visa or MasterCard co-branded cards, so that the card is accepted on both the CB and the Visa or Mastercard networks.

In France, payment cards are commonly called Carte Bleue (“blue card”) regardless of their actual brand. Carte Bleue was a card brand acquired in 2010 by Visa which is not used anymore. Until its purchase, the main characteristic of Carte Bleue was to benefit from its alliance with Visa which allowed the use of the cards on both networks.

Many smaller merchants in France refuse to accept debit cards for transactions under a certain amount because of the minimum fee charged by merchants’ banks per transaction. But more and more merchants accept debit cards for small amounts, due to the increased use of debit cards.

Merchants in France do not differentiate between debit and credit cards, and so both have equal acceptance. It is legal in France to set a minimum amount to transactions, but the merchants must display it clearly.

In January 2016, 57.2% of all the debit cards in France also had a contactless payment chip. The maximum amount per transaction was originally set to €20 and the maximum amount of all contactless payments per day is between €50-100 depending on the bank.

The per-transaction limit increased to €30 in October 2017. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the per-transaction limit increased to €50 in May 2020 to comply with demands from the French government and the European Banking Authority.

Liability and e-cards
According to French law, banks are liable for any transaction made with a copy of the original card and for any transaction made without a card (on the phone or on the Internet), so banks have to pay back any fraudulent transaction to the cardholder if the previous criteria are met.

Fighting card fraud is therefore more interesting for banks. As a consequence, French bank websites usually propose an “e-card” service (“electronic (bank) card”), where a new virtual card is created and linked to a physical card. Such virtual cards can be used only once and for the maximum amount given by the cardholder.

If the virtual card number is intercepted or used to try to get a higher amount than expected, the transaction is blocked.

Germany

Germany has a dedicated debit card payment system called girocard which is usually co-branded with V Pay or Maestro depending on the issuing bank. In recent years both Visa Debit and Mastercard Debit cards are increasingly more common as well.

Historically, facilities already existed before EFTPOS became popular with the Eurocheque card, an authorization system initially developed for paper checks where, in addition to signing the actual check, customers also needed to show the card alongside the check as a security measure.

Those cards could also be used at ATMs and for card-based electronic funds transfer with PIN entry. These are now the only functions of such cards: the Eurocheque system (along with the brand) was abandoned in 2002 during the transition from the Deutsche Mark to the euro.

As of 2005, most stores and petrol outlets have EFTPOS facilities. Processing fees are paid by the businesses, which leads to some business owners refusing debit card payments for sales totalling less than a certain amount, usually 5 or 10 euro.

To avoid the processing fees, many businesses resorted to using direct debit, which is then called electronic direct debit (German: Elektronisches Lastschriftverfahren, abbr. ELV). The point-of-sale terminal reads the bank sort code and account number from the card but instead of handling the transaction through the Girocard network it simply prints a form, which the customer signs to authorise the debit note.

However, this method also avoids any verification or payment guarantee provided by the network. Further, customers can return debit notes by notifying their bank without giving a reason. This means that the beneficiary bears the risk of fraud and illiquidity. Some business mitigate the risk by consulting a proprietary blacklist or by switching to Girocard for higher transaction amounts.

Around 2000, an Electronic Purse Card was introduced, dubbed Geldkarte (“money card”). It makes use of the smart card chip on the front of the standard issue debit card. This chip can be charged with up to 200 euro, and is advertised as a means of making medium to very small payments, even down to several euros or cent payments.

The key factor here is that no processing fees are deducted by banks. It did not gain the popularity its inventors had hoped for. As of 2020, several partners pulled out of accepting the Geldkarte which is no longer issued and set to be retired altogether in the near future.

Greece

Debit card usage surged in Greece after the introduction of Capital Controls in 2015.

Hong Kong

Most bank cards in Hong Kong for saving / current accounts are equipped with EPS and UnionPay, which function as debit cards and can be used at merchants for purchases, where funds are withdrawn from the associated account immediately.

EPS is a Hong Kong-only system and is widely accepted in merchants and government departments. However, as UnionPay cards are accepted more widely overseas, consumers can use the UnionPay functionality of the bank card to make purchases directly from the bank account.

Visa debit cards are uncommon in Hong Kong. The British banking firm HSBC’s subsidiary Hang Seng Bank’s Enjoy card and American firm Citibank’s ATM Visa are two of the Visa debit cards available in Hong Kong.

Debit card usage in Hong Kong is relatively low, as the credit card penetration rate is high in Hong Kong. In Q1 2017, there are near 20 million credit cards in circulation, about 3 times the adult population. There are 145,800 thousand transactions made by credit cards but only 34,001 thousand transactions are made by debit cards.

Hungary

In Hungary debit cards are far more common and popular than credit cards. Many Hungarians even refer to their debit card (“betéti kártya”) mistakenly using the word for credit card (“hitelkártya”). The most commonly used phrase, however, is simply bank card (“bankkártya”).

India

After the demonetization by the current government in December 2016, there has been a surge in cashless transactions, so nowadays you could find card acceptance in most places. The debit card was mostly used for ATM transactions. RBI has announced that fees are not justified so transactions have no processing fees.

Almost half of Indian debit and credit card users use Rupay cards. Some Indian banks issue Visa debit cards, though some banks (like SBI and Citibank India) also issue Maestro cards. The debit card transactions are routed through Rupay (mostly), Visa or MasterCard networks in India and overseas rather than directly via the issuing bank.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has launched a new card called RuPay. It is similar to Singapore’s NETS and Mainland China’s UnionPay.

As the COVID cases in India are surging up, banking institution has shifted its focus to contactless payment options such as contactless debit card, contactless credit card,s and contactless prepaid card. The payment methods are changing drastically in India because of social distancing norms and lockdown; people are using more of digital transactions rather than cash.

Indonesia

Foreign-owned brands issuing Indonesian debit cards include Visa, Maestro, MasterCard, and MEPS. Domestically-owned debit card networks operating in Indonesia include Debit BCA (and its Prima network’s counterpart, Prima Debit) and Mandiri Debit.

Iraq

Iraq’s two biggest state-owned banks, Rafidain Bank and Rasheed Bank, together with the Iraqi Electronic Payment System (IEPS) have established a company called International Smart Card, which has developed a national credit card called ‘Qi Card’, which they have issued since 2008.

According to the company’s website: ‘after less than two years of the initial launch of the Qi card solution, we have hit 1.6 million cardholders with the potential to issue 2 million cards by the end of 2010, issuing about 100,000 card monthly is a testament to the huge success of the Qi card solution. Parallel to this will be the expansion into retail stores through a network of points of sales of about 30,000 units by 2015’.

Ireland

Today, Irish debit cards are exclusively Chip and PIN and almost entirely Visa Debit. These can be used anywhere the Visa logo is seen and in much the same way as a credit card. MasterCard debit is also used by a small minority of institutions and operates in a very similar manner.

Irish debit cards are normally multi-functional and combine ATM card facilities. The cards are also sometimes used for authenticating transactions together with a card reader for 2-factor authentication on online banking.

The majority of Irish Visa Debit cards are also enabled for contactless payment for small, frequent transactions (with a maximum value of €15 or €30). Three consecutive contactless transactions are allowed, after which, the card software will refuse contactless transactions until a standard Chip and PIN transaction has been completed and the counter resets. This measure was put in place to minimize issuers’ exposure to fraudulent charges.

The cards are usually processed online, but some cards can also be processed offline depending on the rules applied by the card issuer.

A number of card issuers also provide prepaid debit card accounts primarily for use as gift cards/vouchers or for added security and anonymity online. These may be disposable or reloadable and are usually either Visa or MasterCard branded.

The previous system (defunct since 28 February 2014):

Laser was launched by the Irish banks in 1996 as an extension of the existing ATM and Cheque guarantee card systems that had existed for many years. When the service was added, it became possible to make payments with a multifunctional card that combined ATM, cheque and debit card, and international ATM facilities through MasterCard Cirrus or Visa Plus and sometimes the British Link ATM system. Their functionality was similar to the British Switch card.

The system was first launched as a swipe & sign card and could be used in Ireland in much the same way as a credit card and was compatible with standard card terminals (online or offline, although they were usually processed online).

They could also be used in cardholder-not-present transactions over the phone, by mail or on the internet or for processing recurring payments. The laser also offered ‘cash back’ facilities where customers could ask retailers (where offered) for an amount of cash along with their transaction. This service allowed retailers to reduce volumes of cash in tills and allowed consumers to avoid having to use ATMs.

Laser adopted EMV ‘Chip and PIN’ security in 2002 in common with other credit and debit cards right across Europe. In 2005, some banks issued customers Lasers cards that were co-branded with Maestro. This allowed them to be used in POS terminals overseas, internet transactions were usually restricted to sites that specifically accepted Laser.

Since 2006, Irish banks have progressively replaced Laser with international schemes, primarily Visa Debit and by 28 February 2014 the Laser Card system had been withdrawn entirely and is no longer accepted by retailers.

Israel

The Israel bank card system is somewhat confusing to newcomers, comprising a blend of features taken from different types of cards. What may be referred to as a credit card, is most likely to be a deferred debit card on an associated bank current account, the most common type of card in Israel, somewhat like the situation in France, though the term “debit card” is not in common usage.

Cards are nearly universally called cart is ashram, literally, “credit card”, a term which may be the card’s characteristics. Its main feature may be a direct link to a connected bank account (through which they are mostly issued),

with the total value of the transactions made on the card being debited from the bank account in full on a regular date once a month, without the option to carry the balance over; indeed certain types of transactions (such as online and/or foreign currency) may be debited directly from the connected bank account at the time of the transaction.

Any such limited credit enjoyed is a result of the customer’s assets and credibility with the bank, and is not granted by the credit card company. The card usually enables immediate ATM cash withdrawals & balance inquiries (as debit cards do), installment & deferred charge interest-free transactions offered by merchants (also applicable in Brazil),

Interest-bearing installment plans/deferred charge/revolving credit which is transaction-specific at the point of sale (though granted by the issuer, hence the interest), and a variety of automated/upon request types of credit schemes including loans, some of which revolve or resemble the extended payment options sometimes offered by charge cards.

Thus the “true” debit card is not so common in Israel, though it has existed since 1994. It is offered by two credit companies in Israel: One is ICC, short for “Israeli Credit Cards” (referred to as “CAL”, an acronym formed from its abbreviation in Hebrew), which issues it in the form of a Visa Electron card valid only in Israel.

It is offered mainly through the Israel Post (post office) bank(which is not allowed, by regulation, to offer any type of credit) or through Israel Discount Bank, its main owner (where it is branded as “Discount Money Key” card). This branded Israel Discount Bank branded debit card is also offered as a valid worldwide card, either as Visa Electron or MasterCard Debit cards.

The second & more common debit card is offered by the Isracard consortium to its affiliate banks and is branded “Direct”. It is valid only in Israel, under its local private label brand, as “Isracard Direct” (which was known as “Electro Cheque” until 2002 and while the local brand Isracard is often viewed as a MasterCard for local use only). Since 2006, Isracard has also offered an international version, branded “MasterCard Direct”, which is less common.

These two debit card brands operate offline in Israel (meaning the transaction operates under the credit cards systems & debited officially from the cardholder account only few days later, after being processed—reflected on the current account immediately). In 2014 the Isracard Direct card (a.k.a. the valid only in Israel version) was relaunched as Isracash, though the former subbrand is still being marketed and replaced ICC Visa Electron as Israel Post bank debit card.

Overall, banks routinely offer deferred debit cards to their new customers, with “true” debit cards usually offered only to those who cannot obtain credit. These latter cards are not attractive to the average customer since they attract both a monthly fee from the credit company and a bank account fee for each day’s debits.

Isracard Direct is by far more common than the ICC Visa Electron debit card. Banks who issue mainly Visa cards will rather offer electronic use, mandate authorized transaction only, unembossed version of Visa Electron deferred debit cards (branded as “Visa Basic” or “Visa Classic”) to its customers—sometimes even in the form of revolving credit card.

Credit/debit card transactions in Israel are not PIN-based (other than at ATMs) and it is only in recent years that EMV chip smart cards have begun to be issued, with the Bank of Israel in 2013 ordering the banks and credit card companies to switch customers to credit cards with the EMV security standard within 3.5 years.

Italy

Debit cards are quite popular in Italy. There are both classic and prepaid cards. There are two Italian interbank networks, Bancomat and PagoBancomat: Bancomat is the commercial brand for the cash withdrawal circuit, while PagoBancomat is used for POS transactions.

Nowadays many debit cards use Visa or Mastercard circuits, while the debit cards which use Bancomat/PagoBancomat circuits are co-badged with Maestro or V-Pay. There is another national circuit, Postamat, that is used by the debit and prepaid cards offered by the national post service, Poste Italiane, mainly for the cash withdrawal in the post-office ATM.

Japan

Suruga Bank began service of Japan’s first Visa Debit in 2006. Rakuten Bank, formally known as Eubank, offers a Visa debit card. In Japan, people usually use their cash cards (キャッシュカード, kyasshu kādo), originally intended only for use with cash machines, as debit cards.

The debit functionality of these cards is usually referred to as J-Debit (ジェイデビット, Jeidebitto), and only cash cards from certain banks can be used. A cash card has the same size as a Visa/MasterCard. As identification, the user will have to enter their four-digit PIN when paying. J-Debit was started in Japan on 6 March 2000. However, J-Debit has not been that popular since then.

Resona Bank and The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ bank also offer a Visa-branded debit card.

Kuwait

In Kuwait, all banks provide a debit card to their account holders. This card is branded as KNET, which is the central switch in Kuwait. KNET card transactions are free for both customer and the merchant and therefore KNET debit cards are used for low-value transactions as well. KNET cards are mostly co-branded as Maestro or Visa Electron which makes it possible to use the same card outside Kuwait on any terminal supporting these payment schemes.

Malaysia

In Malaysia, the local debit card network is operated by the Malaysian Electronic Clearing Corporation (MyClear), which had taken over the scheme from MEPS in 2008. The new name for the local debit card in Malaysia is MyDebit, which was previously known as either bankcard or e-debit.

Debit cards in Malaysia are now issued on a combo basis where the card has both the local debit card payment application as well as having that of an International scheme (Visa or MasterCard). All newly issued MyDebit combo cards with Visa or MasterCard have the contactless payment feature. The same card also acts as the ATM card for cash withdrawals.

Mexico

In Mexico, many companies use a type of debit card called a payroll card (Tarjeta de nómina), in which they deposit their employee’s payrolls, instead of paying them in cash or through checks. This method is preferred in many places because it is a much safer and more secure alternative compared to the more traditional forms of payment.

Netherlands

In the Netherlands using EFTPOS is known as pinnen (pinning), a term derived from the use of a personal identification number (PIN). PINs are also used for ATM transactions, and the term is used interchangeably by many people, although it was introduced as a marketing brand for EFTPOS.

The system was launched in 1987, and in 2010 there were 258,585 terminals throughout the country, including mobile terminals used by delivery services and on markets. All banks offer a debit card suitable for EFTPOS with current accounts.

PIN transactions are usually free to the customer, but the retailer is charged per transaction and monthly fees. Equens, an association with all major banks as its members, runs the system, and until August 2005 also charged for it. Responding to allegations of monopoly abuse, it has handed over contractual responsibilities to its member banks who now offer competing contracts.

The system is organized through a special banking association Currence set up specifically to coordinate access to payment systems in The Netherlands. Interpay, a legal predecessor of Equens, was fined €47,000,000 in 2004, but the fine was later dropped, and a related fine for banks was lowered from €17 million to €14 million. Per-transaction fees are between 5–10 cts, depending on volume.

Credit card use in the Netherlands is very low, and most credit cards cannot be used with EFTPOS, or charge very high fees to the customer. Debit cards can often, though not always, be used in the entire EU for EFTPOS. Most debit cards are Mastercard Maestro cards.

Visa V Pay cards are also accepted at most locations. In 2011, spending money using debit cards rose to €83,000,000,000 whilst cash spending dropped to €51,000,000,000 and credit card spending grew to €5,000,000,000.

Electronic Purse Cards (called Chipknip) were introduced in 1996, but have never become very popular. The system was abolished at the end of 2014.

New Zealand

EFTPOS (electronic fund transfer at point of sale) in New Zealand is highly popular. In 2006, 70 percent of all retail transactions were made by EFTPOS, with an average of 306 EFTPOS transactions being made per person. At the same time, there were 125,000 EFTPOS terminals in operation (one for every 30 people), and 5.1 million EFTPOS cards in circulation (1.27 per capita).

The system involves the merchant swiping (or inserting) the customer’s card and entering the purchase amount. Point of sale systems with integrated EFTPOS often send the purchase total to the terminal and the customer swipes their own card.

The customer then selects the account they wish to use: Current/Cheque (CHQ), Savings (SAV), or Credit Card (CRD), before entering in their PIN. After a short processing time in which the terminal contacts the EFTPOS network and the bank,

the transaction is approved (or declined) and a receipt is printed. The EFTPOS system is used for credit cards as well, with a customer selecting Credit Card and entering their PIN, or for older credit cards without a loaded PIN, pressing OK and signing their receipt with identification through matching signatures.

Fixed EFTPOS terminals today use internet protocol connections to contact the EFTPOS network, but some businesses use the public switched telephone network, either via dedicated phone lines or sharing the merchant’s voice line (especially in smaller businesses).

Virtually all retail outlets have EFTPOS facilities, so much that retailers without EFTPOS have to advertise so. In addition, an increasing number of mobile operators, such as taxis, stallholders and pizza deliverers have mobile EFTPOS systems. The system is made up of two primary networks: EFTPOS NZ, which is owned by VeriFone, and Paymark Limited (formerly Electronic Transaction Services Limited),

which is owned by ANZ Bank New Zealand, ASB Bank, Westpac and the Bank of New Zealand. The two networks are intertwined and highly sophisticated and secure, able to handle huge volumes of transactions during busy periods such as the lead-up to Christmas: on 24 December 2012.

The Paymark network alone recorded an average of 132 transactions per second between 12:00 and 13:00. Network failures are rare, but when they occur they cause massive disruption, resulting in major delays and loss of income for businesses.

Depending on the user’s bank, a fee may be charged for use of EFTPOS. Most youth accounts (the minimum age to obtain an EFTPOS card from most banks in New Zealand is 13 years) and an increasing number of ‘electronic transaction accounts’ do not attract fees for electronic transactions, meaning the use of Eftpos by younger generations has become ubiquitous and subsequently cash use has become rare. Typically merchants don’t pay fees for transactions, most only having to pay for the equipment rental.

One of the disadvantages of New Zealand’s well-established EFTPOS system is that it is incompatible with overseas systems and non-face-to-face purchases. In response to this, many banks since 2005 have introduced international debit cards such as Maestro and Visa Debit which work online and overseas as well as on the New Zealand EFTPOS system.

Nigeria

Many Nigerians regard Debit cards as ATM cards because of its features to withdraw money directly from the ATM.

According to the Central Bank of Nigeria, Debit Cards can be issued to customers having Savings /Current Accounts. There are three major types of Debit cards in Nigeria: MasterCard, Verve, and Visa card. These Debit card companies have other packages they offer in Nigeria like Naira MasterCard platinum, Visa Debit (Dual currency), GTCrea8 Card, SKS Teen Card, etc. All the packages depend on your Bank.

United States

In the U.S., EFTPOS is universally referred to simply as debit. The largest prepaid debit card company is Green Dot Corporation, by market capitalization. The same interbank networks that operate the ATM network also operate the POS network. Most interbank networks, such as Pulse, NYCE, MAC, Tyme, SHAZAM, STAR, and so on, are regional and do not overlap, however, most ATM/POS networks have agreements to accept each other’s cards.

This means that cards issued by one network will typically work anywhere they accept ATM/POS cards for payment. For example, an NYCE card will work at a Pulse POS terminal or ATM, and vice versa.

Debit cards in the United States are usually issued with a Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express logo allowing the use of their signature-based networks. In 2018, there were 5.836 billion debit cards in circulation in the U.S., and 71.7% were prepaid cards.

U.S. Federal law caps the liability of a U.S. debit card user in case of loss or theft at US$50 if the loss or theft is reported to the issuing bank in two business days after the customer notices the loss. Most banks will, however, set this limit to $0 for debit cards issued to their customers which are linked to their checking or savings accounts. Unlike credit cards, loss or theft reported more than two business days after being discovered is capped at $500 (vs. $50 for credit cards), and if reported more than 60 calendar days after the statement is sent all the money in the account may be lost.

The fees charged to merchants for offline debit purchases vs. the lack of fees charged to merchants for processing online debit purchases and paper checks have prompted some major merchants in the U.S. to file lawsuits against debit-card transaction processors, such as Visa and MasterCard. In 2003, Visa and MasterCard agreed to settle the largest of these lawsuits for $2 billion and $1 billion, respectively.

Some consumers prefer “credit” transactions because of the lack of a fee charged to the consumer/purchaser. A few debit cards in the U.S. offer rewards for using “credit”. However, since “credit” transactions cost more for merchants, many terminals at PIN-accepting merchant locations now make the “credit” function more difficult to access

As a result of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, U.S. merchants can now set a minimum purchase amount for credit card transactions, as long as it does not exceed $10.