is it true that paying on a debit card you don’t have the option of chip and pin/contactless payment ?

29 comments

1. No, we have that option.

2. Debit cards have chips. Can’t speak to contactless.

3. Used to be the case but almost everyone has gotten a replacement with the chip by now. Credit/debit card use and popularity predates the rest of the world. It took a long time for stores to invest in chip card reading card reading machines but the transition has mostly been completed to the new system.

4. My debit card has a chip.

5. Nope, that’s not true. My bank’s debit cards have both of those.

6. It used to be true. Our cards now have the chip and contactless is becoming more common.

7. All cards have chips and contactless now. Most places seem to have contactless readers nowadays but its not universal yet.

8. All my debit cards has those options.

9. Seems the opposite. I have to choose “credit” when using my debit card if I (for whatever reason) would rather have it charged as credit. Using the debit option forces me to enter my pin whether it’s contactless or chip payment, but it’s always the first option for debit.

10. This is not true.

11. No, it is untrue.

12. I use contactless probably 75% of the time, and chip/pin (for debit) or chip/signature (for credit; signature is usually only required for larger purchases) the other 25%.

    So yes, we have that. As recently as maybe 5 years ago, contactless was pretty uncommon here, but it’s been implemented very rapidly.

13. Chip and PIN and contactless are two different ways to pay.

    Chips have been on nearly all cards for the last 5-10 years at least. If a merchant is able to take it or not is another matter.

    I just got contactless on my debit card a few months ago, my credit cards have had it for a while.

14. Literally just used my chip two minutes ago. Got me some nice hot tea because it’s cold, rainy and miserable out

15. My cards all switched over to Chip and pin a few years ago, my debit card doesn’t work with contact list but I wouldn’t be surprised if they send me one that does when it expires. I’m not sure if my credit cards work contactless or not, I don’t use them that often and I’ve never bothered to try.

16. No. I do them all the time.

    The stragglers are because the people whose store it is often have to pay to replace the scanner themselves, and some places are cash only because transactions cost a processing fee, with some services.

17. My debit card has that option.

    Tbh I use my watch or phone for most payments (contactless debit or credit, or venmo).

18. No we do. We just didn’t get it until recently.

19. Nope, whoever told you that either lied, hasn’t had a debit card in 10+ years, or is confusing gift cards for debit cards.

20. Chip readers are common and contactless is becoming more common.

21. Not everywhere takes contactless, but most places do. Chip and pin is standard. It’s mostly small businesses that lag on payment methods.

    Or credit cards rarely have any kind of PIN attached, just the chip/contactless read which may be what gave you this impression?

    The only other thing I can think of are government services and occasionally rent payment, which are both often obnoxiously behind the times.

22. Over the last few years it has really hit critical mass and exploded in terms of the number of retailers who have it available now, but we’re just a large and diversified economy in terms of banking and the old system was much more entrenched than in a lot of the rest of the world since we basically pioneered debit card usage in the first place.

    I mean, I was using a debit card in the mid 90s, and have personally been 99% cashless for nearly 20 years.

    I think one interesting caveat here is that there are still a lot of big retailers who have intentionally NOT added contactless payment because they want people to have to download their stupid phone apps and pay with them instead. Walmart and Dillons (Kroger) both come to mind, but I’ve seen this at a lot of big box stores.

23. [Here is a picture of an American bank debit card.](https://i.imgur.com/f5Eh1nk.jpg)

    Note the two red circles showing our debit cards have both chip and contactless abilities.

24. No, we’ve had that option for a few years now.

25. Most debit cards in the US have been issued with chips for several years. Contactless has only recently become common in the US but all the large banks and many smaller financial institutions issue contactless debit cards now. Mobile wallets allow contactless payment even when the physical card does not have it.

    All my regular debit cards have chips and most of them have contactless too. However, I still have some prepaid cards without chips.

26. who uses cards? I do it all with my watch

    (not really because many terminals don’t support it, but I use my watch when I can)

27. No we do.

28. I use chip and pin 99% of the time. The other 1 percent I swipe. But that’s rare, and usually only if their chip reader is broken.

29. >Is it true that [some random thing happens in a movie about USA or Americans that must be true because I can’t imagine otherwise]?

    As in so many other cases, no. I’ve never used my PIN with my chipped debit card. I most often use contactless pay.