Until now, Apple Pay has been only possible with credit cards. The German savings banks (Sparkassen) now also allow the use of girocards with Apple Pay.
Girocards (old-fashioned also EC card) are debit cards, i.e. when you use them, the amount spent is immediately debited from your current account. In contrast to the credit card, the money is gone immediately and is not charged at the end of the month or even taken as a credit.
Whoever would like to set up a Girocard for his savings bank, will find the appropriate conditions here. The most important thing for long-established users might be that the SMS TAN procedure is not supported – you have to switch to Push TAN, for example. Apart from that, the effort for a one-time setup should be kept within limits.
Girocard yes, Maestro and V Pay no
If the girocard is stored in the iOS wallet, you can use it like the physical card, because the payment system is only interested in the electronic information. The restrictions are the same: when paying abroad, you should be prepared that it might not work. The Girocard function is a German phenomenon; for payments abroad, the payment systems Maestro (from Mastercard) and V Pay (from Visa) are usually also included on the physical card. However, this function does not seem to be transferred into Apple Pay. In this case you will need the real plastic card or a credit card in the iPhone wallet, which works cross-nationally.
