> If you’ve ever used a debit card to purchase something in the U.S. you may have been asked “Debit or credit?” and wondered “Hmm, can’t they tell from looking at it that it is a debit card? Or isn’t it, I don’t know, in the card number or the magnetic stripe or somewhere?”
I don't know if it's a cultural difference, but at least here in Brazil, it's common to have the same physical card work as debit, credit, and as an ATM card. AFAIK, they are different applications running in the same chip on the card, selected by a command from the terminal. So they really have to ask "debit or credit", since the same card can be used for both.
I'm from Europe and I have separate cards for credit and debit, but the ATMs in the US still ask me. I've always wanted to try pressing debit on the credit card but then never could be bothered. Would it just do credit because that's the only thing the card can do, or reject it altogether?
>I'm from Europe and I have separate cards for credit and debit, but the ATMs in the US still ask me.
This is true in the US as well, but most US debit cards have a Visa/Mastercard logo on them. Those cards can run the transaction either through the debit system or the credit system. It's not actually a combined credit/debit card (at least I've never heard of such a thing), just that your debit card can pretend to be a credit card.
Brazil has a unique thing "combo cards" in which a single card number can be tied to different accounts. So selecting credit draws from a line of credit while selecting debit draws from a bank account (checking or savings) holding cash.
In the US, though, both options draw from the same bank/checking account.
I don't know if it's a cultural difference, but at least here in Brazil, it's common to have the same physical card work as debit, credit, and as an ATM card. AFAIK, they are different applications running in the same chip on the card, selected by a command from the terminal. So they really have to ask "debit or credit", since the same card can be used for both.