I heard on the news that in order to use a Mastercard Debit card at Walmart, you cannot sign anymore. Instead, you need to use your "PIN." If this is the case, what is the difference between this and paying with a plain old ATM card with your "PIN"? What good is the Mastercard logo on the card?) Or is there a difference? If other retailers follow suit, and this also spreads to Visa checkcards, does this signal the eventual demise of the "debit" card?
It makes perfect sense to me. Visa and Mastercard charge around 3% of the purchase price to the retailer for the privelage of accepting the credit card. Wal-Mart corporation is probably throwing away a few million dollars a year on these fees for customers who are rudly using their "Visa Check Card" or "Mastercard Debit Card" with their signature instead of the PIN that does not result in additional fees. The reason your debit card has the Mastercard logo is that it will be accepted at stores / locations that don't have ATM pin pad access. The grocery store I always shop at has modified their scanner systems so that when you swipe a Debit card with a Visa or MC logo on it, it immediately prompts you for a PIN. This does not indicate that Wal Mart (or other stores) will no longer accept debit cards, in fact it is to their best interest to accept debit cards since they get the money more quickly than checks, and without fees. It also doesn't indicate that they will stop accepting standard Visa or Mastercards. It's just all about the bottom line. The cold hard dollar.
For most people, it isn't going to be a big issue - if you usually use the PIN option when paying anyway. The MC/VISA logo is useful on a debit for people who want to do VISA type things (such as ordering online - say, to order credit reports) but don't want/have a credit card to use. The only problem I can see is that some banks will charge the USER if they use the PIN option because it is an "out of system ATM" to them. Ie. you PIN at WalMart and your bank adds $1.50 for the privelege to your next bank statement; you choose the M/C credit option (no PIN) and WalMart eats the fees.
Hmmm I have a USAA MC Debit card and USAA gives me .5% cash back when I use my debit card as a Master card,,,
STORES (WAL*MART INCLUDED) can choose what cards to accept and not accept... THE KEY POINT IS THE FEES INVOLVED---PIN vs NON PIN One LOCAL BANK (ATM-DEBIT VISA) won't work at my store..."CARD NOT SUPPORTED ON NETWORK"...MAYBE MORE TO FOLLOW...
IN THE VERY NEAR FUTURE...ATM-PIN VISA DEBIT CARDS must have DEBIT in plain letters on the face of the card to tell the merchant that is a DEBIT CARD...AND THEY ARE TO BE FAIRLY BIG IN SIZE...
The stores would like to pay like $2.00 for 100 pin number tranactions...BUT when people choose CREDIT they pay like 1%-3%/$1.00 + like $0.75 per charge
I've seen all the replies.... Okay...this is mostly correct...with the CC affiliations, the store loses anywhere from2-3%. In the past, this was not big deal, because the feeling was having a credit card, and it's attendant "immediate access" to funds prompted people to spend much more freely. Now...ATM debit card networks only charge about 1.5%per transaction. In many cases, the store asks the user to choose. So now, many stores (typically larger chains) are trying to make it so you MUST choose ATM if you have an option for this reason. IN many cases, the network the card belongs to (Visa or MC) affords other protections (refused charges, damage protection,e tc) and the networks say THIS is why they charge more. Debit cards DO have limits on liabilities for unauthorized charges, but because the money is immediately removed from the account, you are typically fighting to get the issuing bank to put money BACK into an account. This can prove very very difficult (I speak from experience..I had an employee that lost his wallet stolen. IT took almost two months to get the bank to "investigate" and put the cash into his account.) The credit card company simply "freezes" teh charge while investigating...you don't pay...the vendor doesn't GET paid. I always use the Visa/MC whenever possible...keep in mind YOU aren't paying the 3% charge (not directly, anyway)> Also, whoever said that using the ATM causes an "out of network" fee is incorrect. POS terminals transactions are not allowed to charge this fee by law. I think it has something to do with the fact that unlike ATMs, there is no risk/work involved with stocking/mainaining a cash supply. aiki
AS OF TODAY...my store still DEFAULTS to PIN# on the VISA DEBIT CARDS... "IF" you want to use it as CREDIT...that is fine too... ...BUT the cashier has to answer "NO PIN" TOTAL KEY...or you have to press CANCEL ON YOUR SCREEN (upgraded stores with customer KEY PADS)
I know my bank doesn't charge foreign ATM fees when you use the card for purchases, but I wasn't sure they were all that way. Makes sense.
I don't shop at Walmart, but if other stores follow, I'll be annoyed. I've got a Paypal debit card. I like the arrangement - pays market rate or better while the cash is in the account and I get 1.5% back on every CC transaction, immediately. Because it has the MC logo, I could not use it. One of the things I like about it is that Paypal's online system is superb - transactions are easy to track and are reflected instantly. This is Walmart pushing back on MC to lower their fees. There already was a case along these lines and both Visa and MC paid some nice fines for their price fixing violations.
