Valve's Steam Gift Cards have been a staple in major retailers throughout the world for quite some time. But today, the firm confirmed they're being phased out.
I’m not sure, since I’ve never owned a credit card. Debit cards pull directly from your account and you have very limited credit available. Also you don’t have card numbers etc. you could use online.
I think you’re imagining the difference between them from a technological point of view to be much bigger than it actually is.
I have debit and credit cards, Visa and Mastercard for both. Using them feels identical; one draws from your bank account balance and the other goes towards an invoice sent to you at the end of the month.
When you pay with them, the vendors themselves don’t see any private information about you, other than the card number and the way your name is written on the card. Some of my cards only have my first initial and my last name.
They can, however, track that card number across multiple purchases or with partners to build a profile.
Visa and Mastercard themselves can see a lot more, but that’s a given if you use any kind of banking services anyway.
In terms of where they’re accepted, I’ve used them all over the world and the only time it mattered which type I use, is this one flight where Ryanair was not accepting debit when I was trying to buy water… Somehow you have to borrow money to eat/drink on board, which is just silly.
How is that card even used if it doesn’t have a number? Can you use it only physically with payment terminals? I have a debit card and it can be used just like credit card but without the loans part obviously.
What’s the difference ? I only ever heard of credit cards
I’m not sure, since I’ve never owned a credit card. Debit cards pull directly from your account and you have very limited credit available. Also you don’t have card numbers etc. you could use online.
I think you’re imagining the difference between them from a technological point of view to be much bigger than it actually is.
I have debit and credit cards, Visa and Mastercard for both. Using them feels identical; one draws from your bank account balance and the other goes towards an invoice sent to you at the end of the month.
When you pay with them, the vendors themselves don’t see any private information about you, other than the card number and the way your name is written on the card. Some of my cards only have my first initial and my last name.
They can, however, track that card number across multiple purchases or with partners to build a profile.
Visa and Mastercard themselves can see a lot more, but that’s a given if you use any kind of banking services anyway.
In terms of where they’re accepted, I’ve used them all over the world and the only time it mattered which type I use, is this one flight where Ryanair was not accepting debit when I was trying to buy water… Somehow you have to borrow money to eat/drink on board, which is just silly.
Also some Citi cards let you make a virtual account number that is revocable so you never send your real card data somewhere online
A debit card in DK is exactly like a credit card in every way except one; you can’t get credit, or anything related to credit.
that’s interesting. Here a debit and credit card are functionally identical (both have numbers etc) and only the source of the money changes
Ok, that sounds almost like what we call a “credit card” here (FR) except they do have the numbers for online use…
How is that card even used if it doesn’t have a number? Can you use it only physically with payment terminals? I have a debit card and it can be used just like credit card but without the loans part obviously.
Yup. Every business has them tho. The modern terminals are barely bigger than the card itself.