The different credit and debit cards at a glance
Credit card and debit card: The most important difference between the two card systems is the way they are settled. But how and when does the money come out of the account? Is a Mastercard always the same as a credit card and what is the difference between a prepaid and a credit card? Everyone knows about the different types of cards, but what is the real difference? To clear up any confusion once and for all, we would like to give you a brief overview.
Debit card:
Debit cards are the most widely used payment cards in Germany and Europe. If the user wants to make purchases or withdraw cash with one, sufficient "liquid funds" must be deposited in the account linked to it. Put more simply - there must be enough money in the account. Each time a payment is made with a debit card, the amount is debited directly from the bank account.
The debit card is usually understood to be the bank card that one receives from banks or savings banks. Colloquially, it is often referred to as an EC card.
The Girocard system is a purely German system, so these debit cards actually only work in Germany. So that customers can also pay abroad with their card, they cooperate with payment systems from Visa or Mastercard, for example:
Maestro as Mastercard's debit card system and
V-Pay as Visa's debit card system. They allow direct access to the credit balance or the overdraft facility of the corresponding current account and thus payments and cash withdrawals abroad.
The credit card companies MasterCard and Visa also offer their own debit cards.
Credit card:
Debit cards should not be mixed up with credit cards. With credit cards, the account of the house bank is not directly debited, but the collected amount spent is debited once a month. The user is granted a short-term credit in the form of a credit line, so to speak. Most credit cards can be used
worldwide offline as well as online. They offer the possibility of contactless payment through NFC, shopping on the internet, booking hotels, etc.
Important to know: Difference in repayment. Depending on the type of credit card, the corresponding invoice amount must be paid either in total (charge card) or in instalments (revolving card). Depending on the credit card contract, it is also stipulated whether the invoice amount is automatically collected or has to be transferred.
Most known credit cards:
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