[al_borland]

I don’t see why not, they can be run just like a credit card through the same network.

When a debit card prompts for a PIN, don’t enter it, press submit, and it runs as credit instead of debit, but functionally works the same as far as the card-holder is concerned. It might take slightly longer to settle, and the merchant likely gets charged higher fees, but it works just fine. When I got my first debit card 20+ years ago my bank specifically told me to select credit and using it, instead of using it with the PIN as a debit card.

These days I’ve noticed the systems tend to auto-prompt for the PIN instead of asking credit or debit. But skipping it functionally works the same as pressing credit used to.

[mrtksn]

Having a credit card requires some amount of trustworthiness. Anyone can get a debit card, they even sell it in supermarkets.

[alexey-salmin]

Normally in supermarkets they sell prepaid cards which are distinct from both credit and debit ones. Visa and Mastercard support all three types.

[ThePowerOfFuet]

You're confusing debit with prepaid; they are classified differently and merchants can determine one from the other.

[Daniel_sk]

This is not the case of debit cards in Europe. Debit cards are tied to bank accounts. Most people only have a debit card or don’t even know what a credit card is (or what the difference is). We just call them “cards”.

[lxgr]

You can buy debit (or more accurately prepaid) cards in supermarkets in Europe too (which is a big and relatively diverse place, so just because that is/was not a thing in the countries you're familiar with doesn't mean it didn't exist).

[al_borland]

Prepaid cards are a separate category of cards to debit cards.

Plenty of places allow debit cards that don’t allow prepaid cards.

[al_borland]

They’ll give a credit card to just about anyone. It will just have a low credit limit and extra high interest.

Most people who have terrible credit have still have credit cards.

Debit cards are from banks, not supermarkets. A debit card is backed by a checking account, typically.