In my experience, it doesn’t matter if you bank with a major bank, a small bank, a credit union, etc., your debit card is accepted everywhere. However, only some places will accept Visa or MasterCard or [insert credit card here].
Why are Debit Cards universal and Credit Cards aren’t?
In: Technology
It’s the service agreement. For example Costco only used to accept American Express. Amex made an agreement that if Costco only accepted them, they would charge lower fees. Maybe 1% instead of 3% .
I also know that at my first job (which was a small local place, not a multinational chain like Costco) that Amex fees are significantly higher than others, so they decided not to use them.
Now though, it’s not so much about having fees that are too high as it is about giving discounts to be exclusive.
Why accept debit? Not doing so would be dumb. Not everyone has one of each credit card, or even has a credit card at all. And not everyone who dies have a credit card wants to use it. It would be like not accepting cash.
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