Skip to content

Debit card payments

Almost everyone in the Netherlands has a debit card - physical or digital - linked to a payment account. With it, you can pay reliably, easily and safely, at the checkout and increasingly online.

With a debit card you can:

  • pay in shops, restaurants and petrol stations, at charging stations and to travel on public transport (via OVpay), for example;
  • withdrawcash from ATMs;
  • paying online, with an updated Debit Mastercard or Visa Debit debit card.

Debit cards are debit cards (also called ATM or bank cards). There are also credit cards but Dutch people pay much less often with these.

Many consumers still use a debit card of the V PAY or Maestro card brand. Banks are gradually replacing these with updated debit cards of the Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard card brand. These can be used in more places outside Europe and you can also pay online with them.

Contactless payment

All modern debit cards allow contactless payments. This can also be done with a digital debit card in a digital ‘wallet’ on a smartphone or smartwatch.

Advantages of contactless payments

  • easy, fast and safe
  • with most smartphones: always with facial recognition or fingerprint;
  • with a physical card and up to and including €50: usually without a PIN;
  • with a physical card and above €50: always with PIN.

Security limit

For security, a limit applies to contactless payments without a PIN with a physical card. When consecutive PIN-free payments together reach a total of €100 or €150, you must still enter the PIN. So someone with a found or stolen debit card can never pay more than €150 without a PIN. The bank compensates the (limited) damage to the rightful cardholder.

Digital wallets

A digital ‘wallet’ (digital wallet) is an app with digital payment cards on a phone or smartwatch that allows you to make contactless payments at the checkout.

Digital wallets can contain not only payment cards but also other digital cards, such as access cards, transport tickets, payment receipts, proof of identity, etc….

Paying with a digital wallet

  • works almost the same as contactless payment with a physical card;
  • you unlock the wallet on your phone or smartwatch;
  • you hold your phone or smartwatch against the payment terminal;
  • done!

Well-known examples

Apple Pay, Google Pay and Garmin Pay are widely used digital wallets for digital payment cards in the Netherlands. Digital wallets are increasingly used for card payments, both in the Netherlands and abroad.