In a few months you won’t be able to pay with Maestro outside of Europe.
november 17, 2010
A few weeks ago, we heard through a press release from Febelfin, the federation for the Belgian financial sector, that you won’t be able to pay with Maestro outside of Europe.
Maestro, a Multi-national debit card service owned by MasterCard is the most commonly used debit card service in Europe. The decision is made by several Banks They consider its purpose “to further protect cardholders” and “to counter the abuse of bank cards outside Europe”.
I myself consider this as a restrain to my freedom and I think the banks that are part of this should think twice before doing so. First of all people signed to these banks because of what they had to offer. Now they take away their costumers freedom and this because they rather do it the easy way instead of finding a solution to the problem!
There are other ways to protect the cardholders and other ways to stop abuse of bank cards outside of Europe.
Mathieu Bastiaens his Blog 
november 17, 2010 om 4:44 pm
this is indeed a very silly idea! They better find a solution for the problem instead of just taking it off the market..
november 17, 2010 om 4:47 pm
The problem is not abroad, the problem is that cards get skimmed in Belgium, and are than used outside Europe.
For me this communication of the banks/Febelfin, is proving that they have no consumer at heart of their strategy, but only themselves.
the crisis hasn’t changed their way of working, they say it, we have to undergo it …
november 17, 2010 om 11:03 pm
I agree with Evy, they should find a solution to ensure the safety of the card and fight against the skimming.
Now the consumer is being punished and left out in the cold.
november 18, 2010 om 2:22 pm
In my opinion, this seems a lot more like a well thought out plan then as a negligence of their customer service.
If you ask me, this is the financial sector’s next move in a masterplan, which aims at getting more clients to utilize credit cards in stead of bank cards. This will result in additional income for the financial institution (intrest on credit card payments).
november 30, 2010 om 8:59 am
Seems like they won’t go down without a fight
http://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=DMF20101129_053
november 30, 2010 om 3:45 pm
True, but It’s normal that “test-aankoop” does this. What the banks are doing is unreasonable and goes against their agreement with “us” the consumer.
december 12, 2010 om 9:10 pm
That depends. If they quit with Maestro to offer a more standardized system that is applicable for all banks in the world in the future, then it’s good a thing. If they quit with Maestro because the want us to be more dependent on credit cards, which lead to spending money we don’t have, then it’s a bad thing. As a consumer, I want my card to work everywhere in the world. No matter if I’m in the Fuji Islands or on Times Square in New York. I’m even worried when I need to withdrawl money when I’m on a ski holiday. Banks should seize the opportunity to fill in this need with the consumer.
januari 9, 2011 om 11:55 pm
As posted on your Facebook page and for the purpose of general information:
The fact that Belgian banks seem to be the only ones in Europe applying these measures, is an indicator as to this not being done for security reasons, but an organized method to squeeze higher chargers out of existing customers.
Please find at the link below the few banking institutions that will not apply these new measures.
If inconvenienced by your current bank, you can change to one that will fulfill your expectations as customer.
http://money.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Belgian_Bank_Comparison