Debit Card Question

What the heck is Mastercharge? I tried google and couldn't find this card by that name in order to see what type of debit card it is.

"Mastercharge" is the former name for "Mastercard." I am surprised Google didn't tell you that. Some people still refer to it by the old name.

Most US debit cards will work in Europe. You might have an issue if you get the card issued by a small obscure credit union or bank, but even then, it will probably work. I've used a few different credit union ATM cards in Europe over the years. They've all worked. If the card has a "Cirrus" logo on the back then, it will work for sure.

I long ago stopped even paying attention to what logos my cards have. They always work in Europe. As someone else said, maybe there are some that won't, but I would expect that to be a rarity.

Andrew, I saw a nice google photo image from 1976 listed as MasterCharge....and I might have had one of those myself...but as it was never a debit card, I was hoping for some current edification :-)
To Jang, the only time I couldn't get a bank debit card to work was when I was in Uganda in a small town where all the ATMs where affiliated only with a local bank.
As Cirrus is a subsidiary of Mastercard, then one would think your Mastercard debit would work just fine. That being said, I would call Debit Mastercard rather than the bank....as the bank does not dictate the framework of the debit card...it just signs on as the seller.

That is helpful. So, if the Cirrus logo is not present you think it will still work most of the time in European ATMs? We are in a small city...not tiny or obscure but certainly should know whether their cards will work in Europe. I am so surprised at the difficulty of getting information.

If your debit card has either a Mastercard or Visa logo on it, it will work in virtually any ATM in Europe.

Cirrus and Plus networks have been eclipsed by the Mastercard and Visa networks. American debit cards may still have multiple network logos on them but the one you need is either MC or Visa. My primary debit card only shows the bank and Visa logos.

If you only have a Cirrus logo, it will still work in Europe but you may have to pay more attention to which machines work with the Cirrus logo. I'd guess most will. If you don't see a bunch of logos on an ATM, try it. The worst that can happen is it will say it can't process your transaction and you have to try another ATM.

Some debit cards from small credit unions may still not have one of those two logos but it's really rare these days.

Here is what Google said about the name: the brand that started in 1966 as the Interbank Card Association (ICA), changed to Master Charge for a few years and ultimately became known in 1979 as Mastercard

Cirrus is Mastercards ATM network, they are the same thing. If you compare their logos, they are remarkably similar.

Explanation here: https://brand.mastercard.com/brandcenter/more-about-our-brands.html

Any machine I have ever seen has both MasterCard/Cirrus and Visa logos on it.
For example this one in France: https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/credit-agricole-atm-machine-bank-geneva-switzerland-photo-taken-april-rd-47099009.jpg

Check with Capital One. Their 360 account has a MasterCard debit card that works in Europe and has zero fees. You can apply and open the account online without ever stepping into a branch. I have had one for 15 years, worked everywhere I wanted it to.

Not sure why you are wanting this brand of card specifically. All current US issued debit cards with either a Visa or MasterCard logo (emblem) on them will work in Europe (there are a few exceptions based on the specific bank giving you the card so make sure you ask specifically if the card will work in Europe).

You are overthinking this. It's really quite simple. First, all you need is a standard, garden-variety ATM Debit card issued by virtually any bank. That card should work in virtually any ATM in Europe that a casual tourist might ever encounter. Stop worrying about Mastercards by any historic name. Visa ATM cards are much, much more common but the two networks are pretty much interchangeable. Just skip Amercican Express or Discover cards as they are not widely accepted in Europe (also skip any more obscure brands that are not immediate;y familiar to you).

As for banks and credit unions, there are countless good ones and an equally countless number bad ones (when it comes to charging fees and other hidden charges). I don't know about you, but I have no need to do business with a place that gouges its customers, whether that's at home or abroad. The good news is there's no reason to use a bad bank, as you are surrounded by a sea of better ones. If your bank sucks, fire them and join one of a hundred credit unions that will charge you virtually nothing and give you all the benefits that Big Evil Bank, Inc provides you.

Finally - be aware that at many banks and credit unions (even good ones), it's common to find that many/most employees are utterly ignorant about anything that takes place in a foreign country. I have a great credit union, but I went through a half dozen employees face-to-face in-branch and over the phone at their HQ who told me that if I used my ATM card in Europe, it would dispense US dollars (they seemed to not know about Euros), they also said there would be zero fees (not entirely true - there's almost always some markup on the exchange rate - which in this case was a flat 1% which is imposed by Visa); they also had never heard of the countries I was traveling to. Point being: don't expect complete and accurate information from the first person you talk to at any bank.

Tiny town or not, you can get a Charles Schwab account that works all over the world and you never pay ATM fees. Online banking at its best.

As long as it is branded VISA/Plus or Mastercharge/Cirrus it will work fine. Never had a problem using a credit/debit card in Europe.

I went through a half dozen employees face-to-face in-branch and over the phone at their HQ who told me that if I used my ATM card in Europe, it would dispense US dollars (they seemed to not know about Euros)

My brain is aching trying to work out physically how the person imagines that could work. The machine works out you have a card from the USA, but then how do the dollars get into the machine? It has a miniature version of Scotty's transporter inside and the co-ordinates of a bank vault in the USA? Does that work for other currencies as well? Or is every machine pre-filled with every currency from every country in the world, just in case its needed?
Ask the person who told you that, whether if I used one of my (Swiss) cards in one of their machines, would it dispense Swiss Franks?

My brain is aching trying to work out physically how that could happen

Well, my point was that many people (including bank employees) are shockingly ignorant and clueless about the world beyond their immediate neighborhood.

When I asked them about fees to access cash from my home bank account at an ATM in Europe, including foreign transaction fees, it was obvious they had never given it any thought - they just parroted the standard answer they gave people about using their card at an ATM at the mall down the street "we don't charge anything, but the ATM owner may charge a fee". I repeated that I would be in Europe, and explained that there would be a currency conversion, and I wanted to know what foreign currency conversion rate they would use (interbank rate, etc.). They just blinked and stared at me and it was pretty clear they had no idea what I was asking about.

I then told them I would be using my ATM overseas and wanted them to place a travel alert note on the account, to avoid them from locking the card due to suspected fraud. When I told them I was going to Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, they looked at me like I had said I was going to vacation on the moons of Jupiter. To their credit, it seems they had heard of Poland.

Other banks and credit unions had less trouble with such exotica. Just be prepared to explain that in Europe they use different money, and be ready to spell things like "Netherlands" for them so they can find it in their systems. Bring extra patience.

It is easier to use the online option to set travel notices (if still required by your bank and if they have that option) because you simply tick off the places you are going and supply the start and end date. No translation issue between you and a bank teller who may have never left their home state when traveling. Or no problems like them asking you to take pictures of the kangaroos for them while you are in Austria.

Thank you for all of your comments. Your descriptions of your bank interactions reflect ours, which is why we are asking here. We do have Visa with our local bank. My husband leaves little to chance and wants to have a second option. Thus the hope of finding a Mastercard. I called it MasterCHARGE because I am seventy and my brain sometimes reaches for the past. A Mastercard /Cirrus debit card is what we want but we are having trouble finding a bank that issues that card. Website keeps us in a loop always ending at a credit card, not debit. My husband has made so many phone calls! The customer service people have been as clueless and our local bank personnel. We are looking for a backup to the Visa that has low or no fees for transactions. They tell us the cards will work but they don't know whether there are fees. This is a long expensive trip. Fees will matter a lot. We don't want to find out after we get there that we don't have a good card to backup the Visa.

Checking Charles Schwab and MC360 cards now.

I am not following very well. Go to a local credit union (or a bank) and open a checking account (or a saving accounts but only one), put money into and request a debit card. Whether it is a Visa or a Mastercard makes no difference. You can carry two Visa cards that are tied to two different as back up. We carry two debit VISA debit cards. Our primary card is a credit union card that charges 1% after seven withdraws in a 30 day period. Our back up card is with US Bank -- that charges a 3% fee. Obviously we don't use that card other than the first day just to make sure it is working. Don't need a back up card that doesn't work. After that, the credit union card is our primary card. (Knock on wood) We have never had that card not work. About once a month it will not work in an ATM, just move on to the next ATM and it has always worked. We carry three different credit cards.

At one time we carried a mix of Mastercard and Visa cards but have noticed over time that many of the vendors offering Mastercards changed to VISA. So now I don't think I have a single Mastercard - credit or debit. Have wondered if the MC is on the decline in the US. It is possible that the banks you have called are not offering a Mastercard debit card. But it is not that important either.

I have a Mastercard branded debit card that I have at my credit union, and it has worked everywhere I have been in Europe. They have about a 1.1% fee, which is mostly the network fee.

jang,

You cannot just get a debit card without opening a checking account (or an investment account at Schwab). That is why you end up at the credit card application when you try.

Frank,

Visa and MasterCard flip flop constantly. US Bank for example was all MasterCard. A few years ago they went all Visa. Recently, they went back to MasterCard. The banks play Visa against MasterCard to see who will give them the best price on the service and change a lot, to the frustration of the card holders who have to update any stored cards. Many of the larger banks have both Visa and MasterCard issued. A recent push by MasterCard has resulted in many of the travel related cards (hotel, air, rental car, etc.) leaving Visa. This even comes into play with AmEx on occasion. So hold onto your cards, in a few years the mix will flip flop again.

We use a mid-sized credit union that got its start serving a local military base and has to compete with some big players like Navy Federal and the sainted USAA for those kinds of customers. Given the travel patterns that some of the folks in uniform have, any vacation trip we can come up with is not going to make the folks at the neighborhood CU blink. If we actually have to talk to anyone about a trip, we're more likely to get 'Yeah, we visited there while my spouse was stationed at Ramstein. It was a great weekend trip.' than anything resembling confusion.