Optional maestro card

Some merchants in Germany reject the fidor smartcard because they think it is a credit card. If you show them the back of the card and explain that this is a combined Mastercard/ec-karte they will let you pay with it. And if it doesn’t work it is more likely that the merchant doesn’t accept Maestro at all, some merchants still only accept the national Girocard.

You will not get a national debit card with Revolut. For girocard, you need a German account number and Revolut HQ is in England. But it is very rare that a merchant is only accepting girocard. The most of the Penny and Edeka markets accepting Maestro. But MasterCard acceptance in little shops is very rare.

MaestroCards are cheaper when you use ATMs in Europe.

Today, I could not pay in a Penny market in Austria because they does not support MasterCard Debit or prepaid cards. They only accept V-PAY and Maestro Cards.

@Revolut: What is your opinion regarding Maestro Cards or SmartCards (with Maestro and MasterCard)?

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A combination of Debit MasterCard and Debit Maestro into one card would be a good idea. So you can also pay in stores which accept only Maestro and you would have only one card (where you can pay in the other countries or stores with MasterCard).

A support for Maestro PayPass and MasterCard PayPass would certainly be the perfect combination in one card. :sunglasses:

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@tcu97 nearly every super market in Austria accepts MasterCard (also Hofer) and it’s getting more and more common to pay by credit card and don’t need Maestro here.

I am travelling to Belgium and specifically want the card to use there. Does this mean I should NOT use Revolut and get something else? If Mastercard really isn’t accepted then it won’t be fit for the purpose

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I’m Belgian. Mastercard is accepted almost everywhere. There are just some little shop, night shop, etc. who doesn’t accept Mastercard. The shop Colruyt (a low price shop) also doesn’t accept Mastercard, only Maestro or Bancontact (the belgian equivalent of Giro).

But be quiet, every “big” store, every restaurant accept Mastercard :wink:

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Think that after these comments Revolut sure will be thinking about options for a Maestro card (a smart card Master+Maestro would be the best) as the demand is high in the BeNeLux and Germany and France (if there are not more countries who have a low Mastercard/Visa acceptance).

In the Netherlands,

Most Supermarkets do not support these Creditcards (some said they will give it a look but this could take a few years)

Small shops/ local markt

Stores

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I had a discussion lately with a product manager for payment cards at a bank. These combined Master + Maestro cards can become a usability nightmare. Depending on the terminal, a POS terminal might ask you which payment system to use. This is mandatory due to a new EU regulation. Not all terminals are updated right now, not all terminals do this selection the same way, merchants don’t train their employees and you get a “sorry, card not working” about 90% when one uses this card in restaurants outside Europe. He tested a card all over the world for about a year and it was one of the most rejected cards he ever used. It only works for customers that are willing to argue with merchants a lot that they are doing it wrong.

Also, wireless would be limited to Master or Maestro. And this is a big problem. You want Mastercard contactless because of better acceptance worldwide. One would end up with a fancy smart card that lacks one of the fanciest and most intriguing features of payment cards in the Maestro-only markets.

As elegant as a universal card seems in theory, I don’t think it is worth the trouble.

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In had owned both Maestro and Visa Electron before and I don’t think they’re any good. They would get rejected many times when trying to buy something online. Before getting my Revolut card, my latest one was also a Mastercard and I didn’t have any problems with it, so I think it’s the best option.

I really have no idea why so many people are requesting Maestro card :smirk:
99,9% of the merchants are accepting MasterCard and Visa based on my own experience even in Germany and Belgium. So please don’t complicate the things, we have everything provided from Revolut that we can spend without hassle! :slight_smile:

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Hi Frank,

Thanks for the explanation and great to hear Revolut did what with our suggestion. Maybe offering an Maestro card then will be good to see for the stores here in BeNeLux.

For a small fee (premium free) offer an Maestro to could so we could have both cards for our payments.

Ps does the Visa/Vpay work better as combined card even Revolut has a agreement with MasterCard (just wondering if they have fixed this better)

Hi Korolija,

In Belgium and Germany it could have a better acceptance. But in the Netherlands its a real hell if you do not have a Maestro/Vpay.

Almost all supermarkets that are not located in the centre of the city does not allow you to pay with Mastercard (they do not support it), some small stores that sell clothing also same issue.

The Netherlands has the creditcard not as main payment method because we never did integrate it because online we use Ideal what is linked to our bank accounts where we log in and accept the payment. Think in 5yrs this will be different

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Hi @anon13306872, just for clarification, my conversation was not with a Revolut product manager but with someone from a bank.

It does not make much of a difference which two payment applications are combined on one card. In principle, with the new regulations a card issuer could even combine MasterCard and Visa on the same card. But the IT infrastructure is not prepared to handle this and it would be more costly for issuers and customers. For the time being, I think a simpler card is a card with better user experience.

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Thats no problem the result is the same :wink: you know that the combined card is not possible

Thanks anyway

That’s possible. Look at the Fidor Smartcard: Smartcard for Europe

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Not everything that is possible is a good idea :slightly_smiling_face:

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So Revolut, are there plans to add an optional Maestro/ V Pay card for those who live in BE,DE,NL,LUX ?

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Visa with V pay works combined without issues. I called my local CC company which offer those and say that on terminals that support Visa/V Pay/Maestro and MAstercard, the card will be recognized as a Visa (regular/Electron depending on credit or debit) and continue the payment. This dual card is a good idea if its issued by Visa. But I don’t think that Revolut will change their Mastercards for Visa

What they said is that a vpay terminal accepts visa as is demanded by visa, the same should in theory apply to maestro, if a maestro merchant isn’t accepting mastercard debit is out of stupidity as the rate is same for maestro or they don’t know it works, or it is actually a girocard/whatever it is in NL system and not actually maestro or vpay.