Debit cards are sold to customers as a perfect mix of credit and debit cards. But the truth is: cards are useless.
Undoubtedly, the payment and banking scene is never boring. Hardly a month goes by without new products, banks, fintechs and payment solutions hitting the market. But who really needs all that and you have to find it all right? Our author Nils Wischmeyer In his column “Nils nörgelt” he illuminates a product, a topic or the “latest hot shit” every month. After all, there is (almost) always something to complain about.
Then it was time again. I wanted to do some retail shopping in Cologne and confidently took out my wallet. “With a ticket, please,” I said to the saleswoman. A short time later, the card terminal lit up. Card hung up, peeeeeeep and… and transaction impossible. “Is that a credit card?” she said from across the counter. I said no, because the debit card was offered to me by my bank in lieu of the Girocard. But the second attempt didn’t work either. “Oh, that’s a debit card. You can’t do that here,” the salesgirl remarked, and I had to scrape the coins out of my wallet.
It’s just a minor episode that was as annoying as it was minor. But at this point it represents something that I have unfortunately had to observe for months: my debit card, which the bank has praised so much, has (for me so far) only disadvantages. And so I wonder: how can this be, when the debit card is supposed to be the panacea for the deluge of cards in my wallet?
The debit card is widely advertised, wrongly
It’s been like this for months, dear bankers and fintech bosses, what bankers don’t want to do. You’re gradually swapping all my – well, beloved would be too much, but expensive – credit and debit cards for this crap you call debit cards and advertise as if the card itself is a super app. My bank – like some other banks – has not only managed to bring a debit card to market that only creates confusion or canceled transactions. No, it is also completely useless in everyday life in Germany and abroad.
It starts with the design. She actually managed to print the card number on the back instead of printing it and rendered the card worthless for most international payments. Because while overseas, with a bit of luck, stamped debit cards are still accepted as credit cards, the waiters return the card: “Credit card only, please,” they say. So contritely I take the card back and curse my bank. Because on the website it says: “You can use it to pay anywhere you see the Visa sign.” Mhm, somehow not. And this should not only be the case for the bank with the three letters, but also be or will be a problem for many others.
In the domestic market of Germany, the debit card does not work as a replacement for the Girocard
And that doesn’t even get me started on the real problems with this type of debit card. These make everyday life really annoying. Maybe we start overseas and work our way to domestic coffers. Because the big disadvantage of debit cards is, of course, that you can’t use them to pay for a hotel or a rental car abroad, for example if a deposit is required. So, at the latest when I want to rent a car, I need a credit card, in addition to my debit card. “Now you can put it all on one card,” the ad says. I say: **** (censored by the editorial staff).
The situation is similar to German cash registers. They are accepting more and more credit and debit cards, but smaller shops in particular still have Girocard-only terminals. Even in the administration of large cities there is still no uniform system. It might be annoying and backward, but that’s the reality. And debit cards – sorry to say! – pass again. Because where debit cards are not accepted like postal cards I need another card there too. So instead of having a debit card for everything, I need three cards in my long everyday life: a credit card for traveling abroad and for withdrawing money from as many ATMs as possible, a giro card for German backwardness and a debit card, preferably to fill my wallet even more.
Do I have to pay for other cards now? Fine thanks.
The only thing that makes me particularly angry is that I have to save money for this subservice – in any bank. Since the debit card is usually free, logically, it’s also next to useless. But the credit card or debit card should cost a few euros a month, even if they were free before. Unfortunately, as a customer, I feel a little ridiculed. it is not true?
Over the past few months I have often said: Oh, this will be fine. This is stabilizing and terminals will soon accept it. But no, the terminals don’t change, the German Girocard ties don’t change, only my mood changes. She went from happy to neutral to annoyed whenever it came to the payment process. Then came the message that switching to a debit card could negatively impact my beloved Schufa score. Oh, dear banks, I have no other choice: I cut my debit cards and pay everything again Cash. It doesn’t help.
Debit cards are sold to customers as a perfect mix of credit and debit cards. But the truth is: cards are useless.
