MasterCard/Visa, Maestro & Visa Electron

colin79666

I think all the networks have problems from time to time. The Visa Electron system went down on a Saturday last for the whole day. It wasn't the best day on the checkouts I've worked!

BONJOEY

nice thread some useful info... shame some eople dont appreiate your help....

xxxxx

thesaint

BONJOEY wrote:

nice thread some useful info... shame some eople dont appreiate your help....

xxxxx

I think the signature will put some people off.

s1h

My understanding always was that Maestro worked on the same network or is a partner of Mastercard so I thought you could withdraw cash wherever you see the Mastercard and vice versa.

Maybe Im wrong though.

ratttyo

I travel abroad alot and use my Visa credit card and generally have no problems, Brazil, Columbia, Thailand, Singapore, Netherlands, Belguim, Spain, Norway, the list goes on but when I get to Germany or Denmark and particulay Germany being the worst they refuse to take my cards. All being visa, Expert Klein, Hagebaumarrkt to name a few shops. Does anyone know why this is?

khurammm

s1h wrote:

My understanding always was that Maestro worked on the same network or is a partner of Mastercard so I thought you could withdraw cash wherever you see the Mastercard and vice versa.

Maybe Im wrong though.

Maestro is a Mastercard brand but I dont think they use the same terminal lines similarly as Visa and Visa Electron are from the same company but are not accepted equally because of two different terminals.

khurammm

ratttyo wrote:

I travel abroad alot and use my Visa credit card and generally have no problems, Brazil, Columbia, Thailand, Singapore, Netherlands, Belguim, Spain, Norway, the list goes on but when I get to Germany or Denmark and particulay Germany being the worst they refuse to take my cards. All being visa, Expert Klein, Hagebaumarrkt to name a few shops. Does anyone know why this is?

Thats strange why dont you call your credit card company and ask them the reason and also let us know if you find the answer.

newfoundglory

The German market is dominated by debit cards. You may find that Maestro is accepted slightly more in Germany than Visa... or in particular visa credit cards. Remember that pricing for merchants is different for debit and credit card transactions. It would be logical to assume that since there are a lot of debit cards in germany that it is cheaper for retailers to accept debit cards than credit cards.

I suspect it was simply the fact you were using a credit card and not a debit card.

s1h

Germans have never been big fans of credit/debit cards. It is only recently that they have started to be accepted in more and more places.

They still like to use mainly cash.

khurammm

Personally I like Visa Electron more if compared with Maestro as it got more acceptability internationally, but most people like the Maestro card as it is more acceptable in the UK.
So the choice varies from person to person.