Maestro Debit Card
The Maestro is a global debit card service provider and is associated with MasterCard enterprises. It came into existence in 1992. One may use a Maestro card as a regular prepaid card. It is being easily swiped at any of the regular points of sale terminals. It works well on a CHIP-AND-PIN machine by any merchants like a shop assistant, store owner, cashier, or any other. The payment is sanctioned by the concerned bank to make sure that the customer has adequate cash in his/ her account to pay the bill. The customer too should ratify the payment by either entering the secret PIN in the device or by putting a signature on the sales receipt.
Maestro is MasterCard’s chief debit card, and it comes with automated authorization much like a Solo debit card. It means that the data storage takes place in the chip or the magnetic stripe. It can be read, and it will be sent from the dealer to the specific bank, to which they will return with approval. If the info is not read by the machine properly, the bank will reject the money transfer, irrespective of any disposable sum remaining in your account.
Features and benefits of Maestro Debit Card
- The highest users of Maestro debit cards are in the United Kingdom. There are around 1 million places in the UK that take in maestro.
- Using a Maestro debit card is one of the best ways of avoiding the trouble of carrying wads of currencies.
- If you need money, you can take money back within your store bills, generally supermarkets.
- Using Maestro is a convenient and easier way of making payments than giving cheques or keeping wads of hard cash and having to look for the required change.
- There are no pre-arranged expenditure limits, except the cash remaining in your account.
- You do not have to deal with end-of-month bills as the cash can be debited from your account only a day or so post-transaction.
- Maestro makes it easier to track the monthly expenditures. You will be required to send the bank statements via email, mobile, and post in which details of all your expenses are itemized.
- You can also use it while traveling abroad.
Fee and charges of Maestro Debit Card in India
There are two types of charges applicable to Maestro debit cards. Bank charges as an annual fee for maintenance and issuance of the card. The second one is the convenience fee. It is charged separately when the user is swiping the card at any of the POS terminals.
You can use your Maestro Debit card to make ATM withdrawals. Banks are charging the cardholder such withdrawals. A customer is allowed to make eight free ATM transactions in a month. Of these, five should be the same bank’s ATM that has issued the card. Three free transactions are permitted when the debit card is used at the ATM of other banks. Any transaction that is exceeding the limits will attract charges. A customer has to pay INR 20 for every financial transaction undertaken. The charge for a non-financial transaction is INR 8.5.
Procedure to apply for Maestro Debit Card
You apply for Maestro Credit Card in any of the banks where you have a current or saving account. You can apply for an online maestro debit card by net banking or mobile banking. As you already have a savings or current account, minimal documentation is required for issuing the Maestro card. These documents are required for KYC compliance.
