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hechelion164 days ago
I doubt that an US based company accepts debit cards from non US banks

Yes, they do, and I can tell you this from personal experience.


But you've got it nailed down. In order for them to accept it, it's not enough for it to be a debit/credit card, you need it to be "compatible" with their system.

If your bank is from Chile (for example) and they give you a debit/credit card that is, for example, Visa or Maestro, you can use it in the USA if the merchant accepts Visa or Maestro.

If your card is DinersClub, but the merchant's system is not compatible with DinersClub, it doesn't matter if it's a debit or credit(or the country) card, you won't be able to use it there.

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redonihunter164 days ago

I used the wrong words. A local card from your local bank is a defacto debit card by nature. One might call it an atm card, but you can buy your groceries with it. And in the EU you can buy your groceries in the whole EU. But it still is a local atm card. Probably not the type of debit card an American thinks about, if you say debit card.

If your card is Visa, it is a Visa card. That it also is in function debit and not credit, is not of any relevance, except for cases where debit visa cards might not get accepted for whatever reasons, maybe higher risk of transactions failing. Visa is not your local bank. Your local bank cooperates with Visa to give you a Visa card.

So I am totally unsure what is meant, if an US based merchant proclaims, that credit and debit cards are accepted. Do they talk about local grocery store atm cards or do they talk about the no delayed payment cards of the major credit card companies?

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hechelion164 days ago (2 edits)

Maybe we understand the terms differently. The normal thing I've seen is that the bank gives you a debit card that you can use at that bank's ATMs. In addition to that, the same card is usually associated with another system, such as Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, etc.

If the card doesn't have any associated system, it can't be used to buy anywhere and can only be used at ATMs, and only at that bank's ATMs. It's very rare (I personally don't remember any, but I'm sure they have to exist) to find one that doesn't have any associated banking system. Maybe in the EU it's different, I'll tell you how it works in the countries where I've lived, I'm not saying it works the same all over the world.

My first debit card was from a local bank in my country, in the mid-90s, that is, 30 years ago. In addition to working at my bank's ATMs, the card was associated with the "Maestro" system and I could even use it in the USA, as long as the ATM or store accepted the Maestro system.

The stores I've seen (in several countries), don't tell you if they accept credit or debit cards, but rather they usually have a sign with a bunch of icons for each system they accept.


In recent years, it seems like all the systems are integrated and people tend to refer to them as debit or credit cards or not even that, often simply asking if the store accepts "cards", referring to whether they have one of the machines that allows you to pay with some type of card or if they only accept cash. This is not the correct use of the term, but it is how I have seen people use the term these days.

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