Debit Cards in Disney

[JennySmith]

We shop in the US quite frequently and we normally just use our Visa card for purchases. The exchange rate is good and we don't have to get money exchanged at the bank (and don't have to predict how much we want to spend). So long as you pay your card off every month this is a good option (for us anyway).

 

[Flaming Homer]

If you have a paypal account you can use that card at disney and earn 1% cash back on your purchases. It looks like a mastercard but is actually a debit card that can be swiped like a mastercard and signed for, but will use the funds in your account. If you are interested goto www.paypal.com

We use this for our ebay accounts and pay for all of our purchases for ebay this way and earn alittle extra back on those purchases. But this could be a way around the canadian debit card problem. There is no charges for paypal either unless someone is sending you money, then paypal takes a small service fee.

Thanks for the idea, I've started to look into it, but find it confusing on the US/Canada thing. If I understand it, the MasterCard Debit/ATM card from Paypal works strictly off your US$ Paypal account. How do you FUND that account short of having someone else transferring it to you ? I found that:

1. Paypal funding from CAD$ banks can only be added to CAD$ side of the Paypal account
2. Transfer between CAD$ and US$ Paypal accounts for the same person can only be done from US$ to CAD$
3. Is there a way to send Paypal a US$ money order that I don't know about ?

 

[seashoreCM]

In the U.S. some stores handle debit cards two ways, "credit" or "debit". If the clerk asks you and you say it is a credit card (even though it isn't) the machine will not ask for a PIN. The money will still come out of your checking account immediately. If you say it is a debit card, you will be asked for a PIN.

Some stores (I think Wal Mart is one of them) will insist on doing the transaction the way they choose.

Use of a debit card in a store, or other place other than an ATM, is referred to as a point of sale transaction.

The significance is that there may be a fee for one way and not the other. Also beneifts such as airline miles may differ for one way compared with the other.

You have to read the terms and conditions that go with your debit card.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[Yzma and Kronk]

In the U.S. some stores handle debit cards two ways, "credit" or "debit". If the clerk asks you and you say it is a credit card (even though it isn't) the machine will not ask for a PIN. The money will still come out of your checking account immediately. If you say it is a debit card, you will be asked for a PIN.http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

seashoreCM - so as not to confuse.......almost all Canadian debit cards do not have any sort of Visa/MC logo on them, so they will never be mistaken for a credit card. That's where you get the "what the heck is this" card questions when presenting the card to the clerk.

Also, when using a Canadian debit card you almost always have to indicate somewhere in the transaction whether it comes from chequing or savings account. This only happens when using a ATM in the U.S. Therefore most Canadian debit cards will not work at retail stores. I tried mine at various places (Walmart included) and it just doesn't work.

For Canadians who want to use their debit card, they need to use the ATM's and get cash.

 

[Happy Day]

Careful, my bank teller (who's been to WDW) made sure to tell me that alot of machines would only allow you to withdraw from your chequing account and not your savings. As well the withdraw amount depends on the machine itself, some have limits of 500$.