| This is similar in Australia and New Zealand as well. Visa and MasterCard are extremely common, AMEX is sometimes offered with fancy accounts (usually as a second card), and Discover is all but unheard of. We have a checking account payment system called EFTPOS which has near universal acceptance, and can be combined on the same card as a Visa/MC/AMEX. Contactless payment (PayWave and PayPass) is rapidly becoming commonplace among retailers, and can be used for transactions up to AU$100. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debit_card#Australia Australia plans to deprecate the use of signature verification for domestic credit cards later this year, requiring Chip+PIN for all cards issued by Australian banks. Signatures will still be accepted for foreign cards, because tourists. http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2014/01/credit-card-pin-number-... Visa Debit is available and works, but doesn't really have any domestic advantages over EFTPOS. Maestro and PLUS aren't brands Australians generally interact with, except when traveling. Frustratingly, Australian Chip+PIN cards don't seem to travel overseas well -- in ATMs they work fine (with fees galore) but in retail, the terminal often insists on a signature instead of a PIN. |