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Credit or Debit?

When you pay with a debit card, the purchase or cash withdrawal is debited to your bank account. When you pay with a credit card, the purchase or cash withdrawal is debited on a credit card invoice. When you pay with a combination card, you must select whether you want your purchases and cash withdrawals debited to your credit facility (credit) or directly to your bank account (debit).

A debit card, a credit card or a combination card? Find out what they are!

  1. Combination card: A payment card that includes both the debit and credit feature. You can choose whether your purchases are charged directly to your bank account (debit) or to your credit facility (credit).
  2. Credit card: If your card has a credit facility only, it is a credit card. Read more about Nordea’s credit cards. Note! The debit feature can be added to almost all Nordea credit cards.
  3. Debit card: When your card has the debit feature only, the purchases are charged directly to your bank account. The card does not include a credit facility. Read more about Nordea’s debit cards.

Payments in Finland and abroad – credit or debit?

You can make payments with all Nordea cards in Finland and in more than 200 foreign countries.

A combination card (credit/debit) and a credit card (credit) are accepted in all shops that carry the Mastercard symbol. Credit and combination cars are accepted in around 30 million sales outlets across the world.

Nordea Debit is accepted in shops that carry the Visa symbol and Nordea Electron in shops that carry the Visa Electron symbol.

When paying with a credit card with the debit feature combined, you can choose whether your purchases will be charged to your credit facility (credit) or directly to your bank account (debit). Chip payment terminals at which you accept a payment with a PIN are not always available abroad. In such a case, your purchases will be charged to your credit facility.

Payments at payment terminals

  1. Insert the card into the chip card reader.
  2. Select whether the amount is charged to your credit facility or to your bank account (credit/debit).
  3. Check the total sum of the purchase.
  4. Accept the payment by keying in your PIN and pressing OK/Enter. The PIN replaces your signature.

The payment terminal signals whether your payment was successful either with a light, text or beep.

Contactless payments with combination cards

The contactless payment feature is included in all new and renewed cards issued by Nordea. Contactless payments allow you to pay for purchases below 50 euros by taking your card within a distance of a few centimetres from the payment terminal.

Contactless payments made with Nordea combination cards are always charged to the customer’s bank account, except with Finnair Plus and Stockmann Mastercard combination cards. Contactless payments made with these cards and with credit cards are always charged to the credit facility.

Tip: You can also pay your purchases exceeding 50 euros without touching the payment terminal if you attach smart payments to your card and pay the purchases with a smartphone, smartwatch or some other smart device. Read more about mobile payments!

Cash withdrawals in Finland and abroad

You can withdraw cash with all Nordea cards in Finland and abroad. A combination card (comprising both the credit facility and the debit feature) allows you to decide whether to make a withdrawal from the credit facility or your bank account.

ATM services may vary from country to country, but each cash ATM will show you the available alternatives. When abroad, you can also withdraw cash from credit or bank account at branches carrying the Visa or Mastercard symbol.

Online payments

Activate online payments in your mobile bank from the card settings or in Netbank under Cards/Usage area and Internet.

When using a combination card, you must choose whether the purchase will be charged to the credit facility or directly to your bank account (credit or debit). When making online purchases from the credit facility on your card, you will need your credit card number and validity as well as the three-digit CVC2 security code, which you will find on the reverse side of the card, to the right of the signature panel. If you prefer to pay your purchases from your bank account, you will need the Debit card number, which you can find at the bottom of the reverse side of your combination card, and the CVC2 security code next to the Debit card number.

You confirm the purchases with the Nordea ID app.

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