V Pay is a Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) debit card for use in Europe, issued by Visa Europe.[1] It uses the EMV chip and PIN system and can be co-branded with various national debit card schemes such as the German Girocard[2][3][4] or Italy's PagoBancomat.[5]
Product type | Debit card |
---|---|
Owner | Visa Inc. |
Country | United States |
Related brands | Visa Electron, Visa Debit |
Markets | Europe |
Website | www |
The V Pay debit card system competes with the Mastercard Maestro debit card product. However, unlike Mastercard Maestro, V Pay cards cannot be used in non-EMV environments, limiting its acceptance to those countries and merchants that use this system. Also unlike Mastercard Maestro, which is issued and accepted globally, V Pay is designed as a specifically European product, and is not issued or accepted outside European countries except for some of their overseas territories.[1] However, some cards are co-branded with the Visa Electron system, which allows using them outside Europe.[6]
V Pay cards began to be accepted at merchants in France and Greece in 2005,[7] and acceptance had since expanded to more European countries.
However from 2019, the V Pay system is gradually phased-out in favor of Visa Debit.[8]