Gringo’s Travels
Puerto Rico viewed from a gringo’s perspective
There are no “Debit” cards in Puerto Rico.
Author: The Gringo21 Feb
Before I came down to Puerto Rico, I kicked around the idea of getting a Puerto Rican bank before I came. I didn’t do it mainly because I didn’t know how trustworthy they were. I also thought it would be difficult if I visited the States. How would I pull out money from a different country? I just wasn’t sure.
I decided I always have my Visa/Debit card from my American account. So that’s what I did. The problem with a “Debit” card here is if the card has a Visa/MasterCard logo they think it is a credit card. I know this shouldn’t be an issue. It is still hard for me to wrap my head around. The problem is some places only take debit cards and not credit cards. Even if you KNOW that the card would work in there system, they won’t try it. There debit cards are called ATH. So sometimes you will run into a situation where the place won’t take your debit card. You will have to go find an ATH (ATM) machine, get charged a fee for pulling out cash and then go back to wherever you were trying to use your card to begin with.
- Tags: ATH, ATM, ATM Machine, bank, bank account, credit card, debit, fee, mastercard, Puerto Rico, visa
11 Responses for "There are no “Debit” cards in Puerto Rico."
[…] first stopped at the closest Shell station. I usually try not to use this gas station because they rarely accept my American cards and have bad customer service, but today I had cash handy so I figured I would give them another […]
I had this problem when I moved here, so I decided it’d be best to have 2 accounts. Since I wasn’t going to be doing much banking in the mainland, I opened a WaMu Free checking account before leaving and followed it up once arriving here with RG Bank. Their internet banking leaves a LOT to be desired, but the branch in San Patricio is quite close to me, it’s a free account (which I am a fan of, since as a freelancer, my account balance can fluctuate quite greatly), and they have a Mastercard Debit Card that works with the local ATH network and in the states seamlessly.
ATH is the first debit card that appeared in Puerto Rico and its from the BPPR (http://popular.com). By now you should know that we call some things by brand name, for example, diapers are pampers, toilet paper is charming, and therefore debit card is ATH.
@Robert, RG is a pretty crappy bank, you should go with popular if you are into online banking, theres also a penfed (https://www.penfed.org) branch inside Fort Buchanan (you dont need to be in the military to join) that could be very useful to both of you (I am moving all my accounts there).
I understand that a debit is your ATH, but not everyone believes so. As soon as a Visa logo is seen, they won’t take it!
Why go with PenFed? They have terrible interest. For my savings I use emigrantdirect.com. They are the only high interest saving account that Puerto Ricans can use (from what I have seen).
Well, I have a car loan with them and at the time I took the loan they had the lowest interest around (compared to local banks), so I decided to stick with them. I will be checking that other bank to see how it compares.
“I understand that a debit is your ATH, but not everyone believes so. As soon as a Visa logo is seen, they won’t take it!”
Yeah, my bf always has that problem even though the visa debit card is from a local bank, I don’t know if it is ignorance or company policy… most probably is ignorance.
Penfed does have good interest for loans… I actually have an account with them ($20) just in case I need to use them… You should check out emigrant though… I have used them with no prob.
[…] Also know that in Puerto Rico ATM machines are technically called ATH. Everyone here does know both acronyms. If you are moving here, please get a separate ATH card because there are no debit cards in Puerto Rico. […]
Wow… completely late, but:
@DarK SouL, I refuse to do business with Popular due to a very bad experience I had when I was a customer of theirs. They’re like BofA, but worse. So far, I’ve had no problems with RG, so maybe I got lucky or they’ve gotten better :)
As a Banco Santander check card holder since 2001, I may actually have an answer as to why ATH-only merchants may be convinced the card won’t work.
The thing is, until very recently, my check card would not work for PIN-based transactions at merchants. I mean, it would work perfectly at an ATM to get cash out of my checking account, but if I tried buying something using the PIN it would be declined. It would only work as a credit card even though it was debit.
It works both ways now, though. Why it suddenly works after years of it not I have no idea. I haven’t tried getting cash back yet… I don’t want to jinx it.
Hmmm maybe I should try again.
I know they will work at the Costcos and Walmarts but that is all I have had luck with.
@ Rob
I have been using Popular since, wow, ~1995 and I’ve never had a problem with them, but I have heard some horror stories. I like them because I can pay all my monthly bills through them without having a service fee and no other online banking service on this island compares to that they have.
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