Important news for customers of large chain stores. From July this year, in Europe, new CE cards with the Maestro function will no longer be issued, and merchants will no longer accept this payment function. Find out from the lines below what the change that is about to come into force entails.
The payment method that disappears permanently from July
As of July 2023, the Maestro function for CE bank cards will no longer be available. Thus, users will no longer be able to use it for payments both in the country and abroad. What does this mean? Well, prices aside, there are a few things that will change for customers when they shop at the big box stores this year.
So, these cards will no longer be able to be used as a payment method in large chain stores, with Germany being among the first countries to have already announced this.
The German Center for Consumer Protection explains on its website that for customers in supermarkets and discount stores, as well as for retail in general, “the bank transfer card in Germany is fully functional and without the Maestro function”.
Users can pay and withdraw money with the card as usual
“Cards previously issued with the Maestro function are valid until the expiration date,” the Center for Consumer Protection said. Therefore, there can be no talk of a complete “shutdown” at this time, so users can still pay and withdraw money with the card, just as before.
Kaufland explained in detail to the German media what not using the Maestro function means for customers. Thus, customers can still shop in Kaufland and Lidl branches without problems. As those from the mentioned commercial chains say, it is possible to pay with Girocard, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, V-Pay, GooglePay and ApplePay and, of course, with cash.
However, there is still one big, but also the main problem for CE card holders: the Giro card can be used in Germany without problems without the Maestro function. To pay abroad, another function is required to replace Maestro, for example the V-Pay function.
Read also: How Lidl, Kaufland or Carrefour fool you on the shelf. What you need to pay attention to in order to pay the lowest price, in fact
