The informational progress led to the appearance of new forms of payment, cashless ones. These are electronic payments made for purchases with the help of a bank card, on the Internet or through the mobile phone. These payments are based on money from bank accounts, in the case of cards, or electronic currency stored at a distance on a server, which is not related to a bank account. The electronic money from the server is kept in online personal wallets and can be used to pay for products and services to traders and service provides that join this payment method. The information was published by the National Bank of Moldova as part of the information campaign carried out in concert with the National Commission for Financial Markets within the financial education project “Learn. Give Sense to Money”, IPN reports.
According to the central bank, the bank card is one of the safest and most convenient cashless payment instruments. This can be obtained after opening a bank account and is used in the country and abroad, at ATMs, stores or other points of sale that installed POS terminals. The debit cards and credit cards are the most popular ones.
The debit card is a plastic payment card that can be used instead of cash when making purchases. It is similar to a credit card, but unlike a credit card, the money is immediately transferred directly from the cardholder's bank account when performing any transaction. The debit card can be also used to receive the salary, pension or allowances.
The credit card is a payment card issued to users to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder’s promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the other agreed charges. The card issuer (usually a bank) creates a revolving account and grants a line of credit to the cardholder, from which the cardholder can borrow money for payment to a merchant or as a cash advance. It is important to pay the overdue amounts to the card issue in time so as to have a good credit history.
Convenience and safety are the most important advantages of the bank card. It is considered safe as the cardholder uses a code to spend the money, while the cash can be stolen easily. The PIN code is communicated separately to the cardholder so that only this knows it. For online purchases, one can use the CVV code consisting of three digits that is available on the reverse of the card.
If the person forgets the PIN code or if this inserts an incorrect code for several times, the cardholder can ask the bank to generate a new code. If the card is lost, stolen or is used fraudulently, the person must ask the bank to block the card immediately. The banks have the nonstop customer service that can be used to report an eventual loss or theft. The bank will immediately block the card so as to avoid any loss of the money that remained in the account.
