New Visa/Mastercard Debit Cards

[androiduk]

On a recent visit to the States I found out they will no longer take any of my debit cards. They will only take the new Visa/MC emblazoned cards. I went to my bank and got one of the new cards (about 10 mins.) but I'm not totally clear why a debit card has to be affiliated with the credit card companies. Acording to the bank there are no extra charges on my end so what's the angle?

 

[GraphicMatt]

Because the U.S. has so many disparate banks, they were never able to agree on a direct debit system like we did with Interac. I'm surprised you were ever able to use your debit card for purchases in the U.S., honestly.

 

[androiduk]

I go to the States about 3 times a year and I've never had a problem before. I'm not sure why they're all of a sudden pushing them here unless it's just to create a universal system planet wide. When I used the new card in the LCBO yesterday the cashier was totally confused by the VISA logo and tried to run it through as a credit card. He hadn't seen one before.

 

[Dilla]

Thanks for the heads up. I'm planning on going to the states in a week or so, and it would have been a huge pain if my ATM card didn't work. I'll make sure to go to my bank and get one of the ones you've got.

 

[GraphicMatt]

Our bank cards will still work in ATMs, won't they? I think androiduk was referring to debit purchases.

 

[JasonParis]

Yup, our bank cards will work in pretty much all US ATM's. Just look for the Plus network.

It's POS purchases that aren't standardized.

 

[maxt797]

I think it is only some POS and non-bank ATMs which do not support Plus and our debit cards. I was able to succesfully use my non/credit cart debit caed at gas station and elsewhere very recently. On a side note if you are frequently paying in uS you are better off getting free canadian bank issued US $ mastercard or visa, use it for all usd purchases. Your statement is in USD and you go to local branch and make one payment convertingcad to usd. The benefit is you do not have debit fees, when you return the item in the us you do not lose money on the exchange defference and you may actually get better rate when paying off your balance rather than exchabge rate through debit.

 

[androiduk]

^ I tried my old debit card in a restaurant in New York City and a supermarket in New Jersey and both times the machine wouldn't recognize it.

 

[gabe]

Canadian debit cards wont work on US debit machines. I'm getting the new visa debit card, makes shopping in the states so much more simple.

 

[androiduk]

^ The new ones will work anywhere in the world according to the bank.

 

[Dan416]

I heard that our debit cards don't work down there, but upon investigation, according to Interac, you just have to go somewhere that has the NYCE network (which from their list seems like a lot of places).