A contactless transaction is a fast and secure payment made between a chip card and a POS device without direct contact being established (without the card's chip or magnetic data being read through the POS card reader).
Can a contactless transaction be made with a debit card (ATM card)?
Yes, provided it has a chip. The precondition for contactless transactions is that the card has a chip. Debit cards are usually issued without a chip, so they cannot be used for contactless transactions. However, contactless transactions can be made with chip-enabled debit cards.
Is having a chip enough for a debit card to make contactless transactions?
The card's contactless transaction limit must be defined as a value greater than 0, and the card's other contactless transaction parameters must be set.
Can I make a contactless transaction with my debit card even if I have no balance?
Since approval is not given by the bank during a contactless transaction (it is given by the card and the POS), a contactless transaction can be made whether or not there is money in the account.
Can the bank decline contactless transactions?
Contactless transactions are carried out without approval from the bank. However, since contactless transactions are forwarded to the card's bank after the cardholder receives the goods or service, the card's bank is obligated to post the transaction to the card account.
So is the contactless transaction limit the same for credit cards and debit cards?
The contactless transaction limit in our country is currently 250 TL. It is easy to post this amount to a credit card statement. However, because transactions made with debit cards are deducted directly from the cash balance in the customer's account, and because there is a higher risk that the customer may have no money in the account, banks generally keep the debit card (chip ATM card) limit lower than the credit card limit.
Are contactless transactions always approved by the POS and the card alone?
No. For transactions above a certain amount, approval is requested from the card's bank during the transaction; the approval process is completed once the customer enters their card PIN and it is verified.