Credit or Debit

Monzo Chat
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Silly question, when paying sometimes you get the option or credit or debit.
Which should I say when paying with Monzo?

Edit: Haven’t received my card as yet

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Monzo is a ‘pre paid debit card’ if you look at the hologram on the back it says debit

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Flip the card round and you should see debit in the Mastercard hologram.
It goes through fine :+1:

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Haven’t received my card yet, seems a bit of patience I would have found out lol

Thanks everyone! :grin:

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The only exception is if you see the option to choose between credit or debit while abroad, choose credit :slight_smile:

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ok thanks I will. Can I ask why?

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Good question! I don’t know why terminals in other countries recognise the prepaid cards as credit to be honest but that’s Monzo’s advice & it’s always worked for me.

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Edit

This answer to a question about selecting that option in Australia sounds like it could be right though -

At point-of-sale terminals, cheque and savings transactions are processed through the domestic EFTPOS debit card system. As far as I know they only accept locally issued debit cards.

Credit transactions are processed through the relevant international card scheme (Visa, Mastercard, etc). Despite its name, they accept both debit and credit cards issued under the scheme.

Quote from this forum post.

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If you want to know for sure, you could ask the support team via the in-app chat, they might be able to explain in more detail. If you do, I’d be curious to hear the reason too!

Chances are there will be a few replies from other users here too which may or may not be correct :slight_smile:

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It is also the case not that replies may or may not be correct but that different ATM firmware, different banks networks, etc also play their part and the button you select may be the total opposite in one part of the world than another. Hopefully most of the card related issues users face will dissappear when the prepaid card is replaced with a debit card and when retailers and ATM providers update their BIN databases

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I think the USA has the same system/options on terminals. I’ve never understood this. Why would a local user want to force their debit card to go through the Visa/MasterCard network instead of the debit card one? Why doesn’t the terminal just select the most appropriate network for the card presented? I’ve found it confusing when presented with this prompt, seems like a detail that should be invisible.

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yep exactly! This is why I was confused as to which to select.

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On the contrary, here in Latin America you will have unnecessary problems if you choose to pay as a credit card, having to produce ID. “Debito” you do not.

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Thanks Adam, which countries within Latin America specifically are you sure that this applies to?

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Here was one that immediately came to mind…

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