mastercard debit

Oblivion

usmcage wrote: »

I tried to use my new mastercard debit card at the post office and they refused to take it saying it was a credit card.:mad: Guess whose bank is going to get a rollicking tomorrow? Has anyone else had this prob?

I asked them for a good reason to change from maestro to mastercard and I was told it would make things easier for me!

Hang on a minute. Maestro is a Debit Card system. Mastercard is a credit card system, so if you presented a Mastercard at the Post Office, the cashier was quite correct in telling you it is a credit card.

Do you understand the difference? With a Maestro debit card, the money comes straight out of your bank account (allowing for processing time) when you use it to pay for anything. With a Mastercard credit card, the bank covers the payment until you receive your next credit card statement / bill when you are asked to pay some or all of it back to the bank, and you will incur interest charges on any balances not paid back by the due date.

Some institutions will not accept credit card as a method of payment for certain types of transactions because the credit card company charge them a percentage fee for taking payment this way. So, for example, if I wanted to buy some premium bonds from National Savings & Investments, I can use a debit card since it costs them nothing and they get their money almost immediately, but they will not accept payment by credit card. It sounds like the type of transaction you were trying to carry out in the Post Office fell into a similar category.

Dave.

EDIT: Please ignore this post, I stand corrected further down the thread.

Hazzanet

Oblivion wrote: »

Hang on a minute. Maestro is a Debit Card system. Mastercard is a credit card system, so if you presented a Mastercard at the Post Office, the cashier was quite correct in telling you it is a credit card.

MasterCard is a payment processing provider, who have recently introuduced a new product called the MasterCard Debit card in the UK. I think the idea is to eventually phase out Maestro and replace it with MasterCard Debit.

This thread details the issues that people have had with the new card (which is linked to a bank account like a Maestro card) because retailers haven't updated their Bank Identification Numbers (BINs) with the new card range.

agsnu

Oblivion wrote: »

Hang on a minute. Maestro is a Debit Card system. Mastercard is a credit card system, so if you presented a Mastercard at the Post Office, the cashier was quite correct in telling you it is a credit card.

See here.

Oblivion

Hazzanet wrote: »

MasterCard is a payment processing provider, who have recently introuduced a new product called the MasterCard Debit card in the UK. I think the idea is to eventually phase out Maestro and replace it with MasterCard Debit.

This thread details the issues that people have had with the new card (which is linked to a bank account like a Maestro card) because retailers haven't updated their Bank Identification Numbers (BINs) with the new card range.

My apologies, I was unaware of this development. I stand corrected.

Dave.

M_Thomson

crispy_chris wrote: »

best post ive read in months

Post of the year!

hippey

Its not always the retailers fault, it could well be the aquirer who has not updated the BIN file for the retailer, I think the post office was using streamline at one point?? (I will stand corrected on this one)

Mastercard Debit will cause the same problems as when Visa Electron made it to the UK, some shops accepted it only for it to be declined by the equipment everytime!

Not a lot you can do other than register a complaint at your card provider (bank) and hopefully the more people who do that the more it will eventually filter through the system.

There are so many card types out in the 'wild' that some systems / tills just don't get updated quick enough even though the payment providers release the cards.

hippey

And opinions4u........

The best post for a long time!!!

But Bank Managers know everything don't they??

opinions4u

hippey wrote: »

And opinions4u........

The best post for a long time!!!

Thank you. I enjoyed writing it .

But Bank Managers know everything don't they??

It was a job that gave me a hell of a lot of satisfaction for a long time. I acquired a lot of knowledge doing it, but, ultimately, the job itself is about managing a saleforce and little else. I didn't want to do that for another 20+ years (and was offered more money to do something different) so bailed out!

If you can motivate yourself and motivate people to sell for you then you'll succeed.

The skills required to do the job won't be a million miles off those needed to run a DFS store on a retail park or managing a double glazing sales force.

As such, I think it's fair to say that while the typical bank manager is probably reasonably intelligent (there are exceptions) they certainly don't know everything.

Even I've been known to be wrong occasionally!

ericonabike

Visited this thread as I've just been sent a Mastercard debit card by Yorkshire Bank as 'a valued customer who we want to give first use of it to' or words to that effect. I've been perfectly happy with a Maestro card [in as much as I didn't thinkl about it, which is all I want from a bank card!] but could foresee some problems. Not least when buying online - the drop down menus, as far as I can recall, give the choice of credit or debit cards, with Mastercard only appearing in the credit list. Which presumably means if I used it I'd be charged the additional 2 or 3 % that credit cards attract?

I rang Yorkshire to query this, she agreed and said I could try entering it as a debit card to see if it worked, or if that faied, to take it up with the retailer. Unable to see quite what advantage the new card was giving me [!] I asked if I could reject it and hold on to my Maestro card. She suggested contactiong my branch in the New Year [which I suspect may have been a way of getting rid of me...]

Anyone else had similar experience? Or know if this is a problem that is in the process of being resolved by the banks?

RayWolfe

opinions4u wrote: »

Even I've been known to be wrong occasionally!

No!

Well I want you to promise us all, to try harder next year.

Happy new year to you and all the helpful contributors to these boards.