Debit Card - Mastercard woes v. Maestro

buzben

My current account debit card is now a Mastercard - it used to be Maestro (and prior to that Switch).

Some online retailers charge a handling fee when using my Mastercard debit card even though it's not a credit card.

My bank says there's nothing they can do since Maestro is being phased out.

I complained to a hotel which levied a fee and they refunded.

Is it the retailer's merchant system that's not set up correctly?

reclusive46

Yes, the merchant has not updated its BIN (First 6 digits of your card) list.

savagej

I think Mastercard need an advertising campaign, to let everyone know that they issue debit cards and credit cards. As everyone still assumes to this day Mastercards are credit cards and Maestro cards are debit cards (which is not the case either)

reclusive46

savagej wrote: »

I think Mastercard need an advertising campaign, to let everyone know that they issue debit cards and credit cards. As everyone still assumes to this day Mastercards are credit cards and Maestro cards are debit cards (which is not the case either)

MasterCard is planning on bringing its debit card force back to the UK late this year and getting some of the bigger banks to issue debit MasterCards. Hopefully this should help.

Plxply

buzben wrote: »

Maestro is being phased out.

Strangely this seems to only be the case in the UK in many other countries it's treated like Visa Electron. Although to be honest as far as I know the UK Maestro system was a mish mash of old networks stuck together I believe Switch is one of them.