Been curious about any experiences trying this recently? I've read that it should work ​​​​​​in theory​​​​​​, but that European merchants have refused to allow folks to try, crying "NO Mastercard!" though these cards have the Maestro symbol on the back. I've never used such a terminal, so is it that they need to activate the transaction, willfully refusing all foreigners?

Most likely that the terminal recoils in horror at the card's BIN, but thought I'd ask. Are local (retail) Maestro debit and global (ATM) Maestro separate entities sharing the same logo?

If the card in question is a US one, I highly doubt the Maestro application is even programmed onto the chip in the first place (so in effect, it'd still be treated like a Mastercard credit card even if you got the cashier to let you try).

That said, which US cards (if any) do have the logo on the back? Or is this something that's only on non-US debit cards?

Here you go ...


Back of First Tech debit card

Neat. I'm still thinking that the international Maestro app isn't on the chip, though; some research seems to indicate that US Maestro is different than the European one. If you have a card reader, it might be worthwhile to scan it to confirm either way.

It should work if the international merchant does take Maestro. The chip on the card should have an AID that the terminal understands as Maestro. I just don't know though what type of merchants aside from the ATM itself would be useful that do not take direct Mastercard (which the card would likely try to default to).

I understand that some merchants in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands only take Maestro debit. NO Mastercard credit cards! I did look at the most recent MasterCard rules, where under Maestro POS transactions it did say that they are performed either by Maestro cards themselves or​​​​​ Mastercard debit cards (as recognized by the Corporation).

So, that leaves the question as to whether the "Corporation" recognizes my American card as legit, and whether they mean only other European bank cards?

I think the last time I went to Lidl, they took only debit or cash, but that has changed (now they take Visa and Mastercard along with Maestro).
https://translate.google.com/transla...52&prev=search

Oh, I forgot that EU got the interchange flattened. So, again, I am unsure why there would be any stores not taking regular Mastercard and Visa along with the debit networks.
https://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-19-2311_en.htm

So, I really think the issue is outdated (well at least for the length of the EU agreement with Visa and MC).

While it might be outdated, as of June 2019 I still ran into a ton of places in the Netherlands (mostly supermarkets and smaller stores) that refused to take anything than Maestro.

Yep. People should keep in mind that interchange caps only affect the part of what the merchant pays that goes to the issuing bank; it's still possible for the acquiring bank to take a significant chunk for themselves (which they very well might be doing for non-Maestro/V PAY in the Netherlands).

I have UK-issued Mastercard Debit and Mastercard Credit, and neither of them work in the Netherlands on Maestro-only terminals.

That said, they don't bear the Maestro logo.

However, in the days when UK banks used to issue Maestro-branded cards, they didn't work anywhere other than the UK either, which is probably why UK banks binned Maestro.

Stumbled across this thread. As an expat in neighbouring Germany with a similar system (maestro/girocard), did a search and found perhaps an answer.

https://dutchreview.com/expat/financ...herlands-visa/

I've used (and still sometimes use) US debit cards in Europe, but they are processed as "credit" transactions in reality : "authorised" then deduced a few days later. Whereas with a Maestro in NL/DE/BE/AT, the money is deducted immediately from the bank.

Thank you for the reply. I had seen that article, but wasn't sure that she had used a maestro foreign debit card? I understand that in most places that actually take Mastercard an American debit card would run as credit, but these terminals don't seem to support that at all. So, although I doubt it, I was wondering whether anyone knew if an American debit card with a maestro symbol would deduct the money and give the merchants immediate credit the same as making a withdrawal from a maestro ATM? My verdict if I had to make a guess would be that it would fail because European terminals wouldn't talk to non-European banks.

I have the exact same First Tech debit card and can confirm that:

1) No Maestro app is programmed onto the chip (per cardpeek), and
2) It definitely does not work at Maestro-only shops in Belgium or the Netherlands.

At this point I think it's more of a cultural thing than anything else--the local debit network (PIN) pushed really hard for debit card acceptance "even for small amounts" and charged merchants pretty low fees. It worked, to the extent that in NL (but not Flanders) a debit card is a "pinpas" and the verb for paying by card is "pinnen".

PIN was folded into Maestro years ago and the interchange fee cap is a few years old at this point, but everyone has a "pinpas" and few people use credit cards for day-to-day transactions so there's just no real demand from Dutch customers for the ability to do so. PIN/Maestro has been around for so long it's kind of entrenched, in contrast to Belgium and Germany where card payments became common much later so the interchange fee cap actually made a difference for credit acceptance. In Germany there's also "debit Mastercard" which is like an American debit card and can be used outside Europe and online at places that don't take Maestro. It always runs through the credit network.

Thank you!