Why do you need to choose (or tell the worker) “credit” or “debit” when paying for something by card? Are the two cards built differently?
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Never heard any cashier ask about that. I’ve heard “card or cash?”, that’s all
I believe there are better post-purchase protections for “Credit” transactions, versus “Debit.”
Correct me if I’m wrong. A credit union rep mentioned this to me several years ago. And they have incentive programs for choosing “Credit” whenever possible.
Credit is post-pay (You’re billed for it when your statement comes)
Debit is pre-pay (out of your checking account).
If you run a credit-card as debit, you will end up drawing a cash-advance with super-expensive interest that starts *immediately* after the transaction, rather than only after your statement date if you don’t pay it off.
Ever since chip cards came out it’s possible for the terminal to identify credit vs debit properly, but before that a button had to be pushed.
And why is this only in the US? In the UK we go to pay, tap our card / put it in and use the PIN, no clarification needed. The card itself is a debit card or a credit card, we don’t need to inform anyone ahead of time what we’re using.
You can only run a credit card as a credit card using the dedicated network for that.
You can sometimes choose whether to run a debit card on the clearing network for that (enter your PIN and make a direct cash withdrawal from your account, like at an ATM – hence the option for “extra cash withdrawal”) OR run it as if it is a credit card on that separate clearing network (without a PIN, but sometimes you do need to enter your ZIP code).
Also, for other people: In Canada – even in Vancouver – some card machines DOES require you to specify whether you are using debit or credit. I recall some Timmies and 7-11 does that.
Debit – instantly removed from your bank account. Credit – charged on card that is then going to charge you; during that period you get credited by the card that is paying on your behalf.
We asked it to balance the money at ghe end of the day and for tax purpose.
The register and the machine was not linked together. Each purchase need to balance with the cash, debit, visa and mastercard total for the day. When you clise the day, tbe machine print a sumary. The register and machine should balance.
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