iDEAL, Maestro, and V-pay debit cards will be a thing of payments past as all bank cards are set to be replaced by the Visa Debit and Debit Mastercard.
You will start to notice the Maestro and V-Pay logos disappearing as most banks across the Netherlands roll out the new cards over the coming years, the AD reports.
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This is so that everyone will be able to make physical payments in more places and more efficiently. But how does this change the way we pay now?
iDEAL gets phased out
Credit card users don’t have to worry about their preferred payment method disappearing, but the same can’t be said for iDEAL.
Since the European Payments Initiative (EPI) officially bought iDEAL last year, we’ve been expecting its phasing out.
READ MORE | What is iDEAL? Your guide to the Dutch online payment system
Now, it’s official: the new Debit Mastercard and Visa Debit cards supposedly make online payment easier, so iDEAL will no longer be necessary when paying online.
Instead the new debit cards work similarly to credit cards, requiring you to enter the card number, expiry date, and security code to pay before confirming with your bank’s app.
What are the benefits?
It’s not just online payments — you can now pay physically with your new card, phone, or smartwatch in more places.
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According to Jos van de Kerkhof, country manager of Visa Netherlands, the new cards can be used in “almost all stores” — and your money is safer while you do.
Customers can change their own PIN code, and special measures are taken to ensure that they’re actually making the online payment, which deters fraud.
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That’s not the only way paying just got more secure — the new cards mean your card number is no longer stored in Google or Apple Pay, but a harmless token is generated instead.
Van de Kerkhof insists, “Our figures show that the fraud rate within European online payments has fallen by 50% since the introduction of the tokens.”
When will the new cards arrive?
There is not a specific date for everyone to start using these new debit cards, the banks themselves choose when to issue them.
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Some smaller banks like bunq, Knab and Triodos already use the new cards, and the big banks like ING, ABN Amro and Rabobank are not far behind.
What do you think about the new debit card roll-out? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Entering card details feels very 1995. Ideal was/is the “ideal” payment method.
Agreed. What a pain in the azz it will be to have to do all that again! Progress? Pfffffffff