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by msbhvn 1931 days ago
In Peru debit cards don’t have names on them. So you just go to a branch and they take an unused one off the stack and assign and hand it to you. 5 mins, any branch, no appt. Quite convenient. Credit cards do have your name printed on and those you pick up at a branch when they arrive.

I guess the US considers the printed name to be more important for debit cards.

2 comments

In the US, debit cards and credit cards are processed by the same systems (by the same few handful of companies), so usually the only way you can tell the two apart visually is if the debit card literally says "debit" on it.

Merchants have the option of verifying the cardholder by comparing the name to some photo ID but it's very uncommon. There is a box on the back to sign the card but in my experience, the Post Office is the only entity that has ever checked it.

My impression was that if you sign it, they’re not supposed to ask for photo ID because the card company is bearing the risk (they could instead check the signature against the one on your receipt)
In Kazakhstan, we have debit card “ATMs”. You can have a named debit card printed out for you in a matter of minutes. All you need to do is to have it scan your QR in the bank’s mobile app. It’s quite convenient.