400 million cards affected
Mastercard is abolishing Maestro cards – these are the consequences for customers
Mastercard stops its Maestro function – the counterpart of Visa is called V-Pay
© Andrea Warnecke / DPA / Getty Images
Credit card company Mastercard wants to abolish the Maestro system from mid-2023. Many millions of cards are affected. What is changing for consumers?
The Maestro logo should look familiar to millions of bank customers from their giro cards. But only very few people know what is behind it. The function ensures that Girocard owners can withdraw money abroad and make cashless payments. Now one thing is certain: In the next few years, the Maestro lettering will disappear from the cards, because the provider Mastercard switches off the system behind it.
New Maestro cards will only be issued until July 1, 2023, after which it will be over. Mastercard has now officially announced this and has thus confirmed corresponding media reports. In some cases, banks could even start equipping their customers with new cards earlier, explains Mastercard manager Valerie Nowak at the Website the company. “But in any case, no new Maestro cards will be issued in Europe from this date.” The move is likely to follow in other parts of the world as well.
This is the disappearance of a brand that has had a major impact on the emergence of EC card payments. Mastercard has been issuing Maestro cards since the early 1990s, and according to the company there are currently 400 million copies in circulation across Europe. In Germany, Maestro is usually integrated as co-branding on the Girocard (formerly EC card).
The 100 million German giro cards are equipped with either the Mastercards Maestro function or V-Pay, the equivalent of its competitor Visa. Card payments and withdrawals abroad are handled via the Maestro system, while the girocard system of German banks and savings banks handles payments when the card is used in Germany.
Online shopping kills Maestro
The biggest disadvantage of the Maestro card is that you can usually not pay for online shopping with it, it is technically not designed for that. As a result, many customers have a credit card or debit card with a credit card function in addition to the giro card. Even digital payment services such as Apple Pay or Google Pay do not work with a giro card, but with credit or debit cards.
The trend towards e-commerce is also the reason why Mastercard is sending Maestro into retirement. Customers should get a new Mastercard debit card from their financial institutions as a replacement. “Just like your Maestro card, this will be linked to your current account and will work in exactly the same way – only with significantly more functionalities to make your shopping and travel experience problem-free,” promises Mastercard manager Nowak. Maestro is no longer responsible for processing payments abroad in the background, but Mastercard directly.
Consumers do not have to take action at first. Anyone who has a Maestro card can initially continue to use it and at some point the bank will receive a debit card as a replacement. This can also only happen after 2023, as old cards should remain valid until the specified expiry date. However, it can happen that some retailers no longer accept Maestro in the transition phase if the number of users is too small for them.
It is not known whether Mastercard competitor Visa is also planning to end V-Pay. However, in recent years the use of the girocard has generally shifted to the credit card, which, unlike in the USA, usually means a debit card. Some banks such as the DKB are already making the debit card the standard for their customers. This can be used to withdraw money as well as pay online and in-store. Consumer advocates warn, however, that some small retailers do not accept credit and debit cards, or only accept them above a certain amount, as the fees for them can be higher than with the girocard.