# girocard, Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard: which German cards can a SoftPOS accept? > Germans pay with girocard, but most German bank cards now carry a second, international brand too. Here is how co-badged cards behave at a SoftPOS, what works today, and the gaps merchants should plan for. Ask a German merchant about taking card payments on a phone and the first question is almost always the same. "But my customers pay with girocard." It is a fair question. girocard is Germany's own debit card scheme, run by the German banking industry, and almost every German current account comes with one. For years, "paying by card" in a German shop simply meant girocard, inserted into a terminal on the counter. So when a payment provider says it accepts Visa and Mastercard, a German merchant reasonably wonders how many of their customers that actually covers. The answer is more than most people expect, and it has changed a lot in the last few years. It comes down to one idea: the card in your customer's wallet is usually not one brand, but two. ## One card, two brands Look at the front or back of a typical German bank card. Next to the girocard logo, you will very often find a second one: Visa or Mastercard. This is called co-badging. A single physical card carries two separate payment applications, one for each scheme. Each application has its own data on the chip and its own route through the payment networks. For a long time, that second brand was Maestro or V Pay. They were there mainly so the card would also work abroad, where girocard is not accepted. That changed when Mastercard stopped issuing new Maestro cards in Europe in July 2023. Existing Maestro cards keep working until they expire, but German banks have been replacing them. Most now pair girocard with **Debit Mastercard** or **Visa Debit**, and some issue Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard cards on their own, without girocard at all. The result is that a growing share of the debit cards German shoppers carry can be paid through the international card schemes, not only through girocard. ## What happens when the card is tapped When a customer taps a card, the terminal and the card quickly agree on which payment application to use. Each side lists the applications it supports, and the payment goes ahead with one they have in common. At a terminal that accepts both girocard and Visa or Mastercard, either application could be used. At a terminal that accepts only Visa and Mastercard, the card's girocard application simply is not an option, so the payment runs through its Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard application instead. From the customer's point of view, nothing is different. They tap the same card and the payment is approved. It is the same mechanism that lets a German card work in a café in Rome or Prague. EU rules also give merchants and customers a say here. Under the Interchange Fee Regulation, a merchant may set which brand on a co-badged card is preferred at their checkout, and the customer can still choose the other one where both are accepted. ## What this means for Tap to Pay on a phone Tapaya's SoftPOS turns a compatible Android phone, tablet or kiosk into a contactless terminal that accepts Visa and Mastercard. For a merchant in Germany, that has three practical consequences. **Co-badged cards work.** A girocard that also carries Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard can be tapped and paid through the international brand. **International debit and credit cards work.** Visa Debit, Debit Mastercard, and Visa and Mastercard credit cards are accepted, including from tourists and business travellers. **Phone and watch payments depend on which card is in the wallet.** If a customer has added a Visa or Mastercard card to Apple Pay or Google Pay, it works like any other contactless payment. If the card they added to their wallet is a girocard-only card, it does not. {% table %} - What the customer pays with - Works with a Visa/Mastercard SoftPOS? --- - girocard co-badged with Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard - Yes, through the international brand --- - Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard without girocard - Yes --- - Visa or Mastercard credit card - Yes --- - Phone or watch with a Visa or Mastercard card in the wallet - Yes --- - Older girocard co-badged with Maestro or V Pay - Depends on the provider; check before relying on it --- - girocard with no second brand - No; plan an alternative --- - Phone or watch with only a girocard in the wallet - No; plan an alternative {% /table %} ## Where the gaps are It would be misleading to say every German customer is covered. Some are not, and merchants should know which ones before they rely on a single payment method. - **girocard-only cards.** Some banks still issue cards that carry girocard and nothing else. These cannot be paid through a Visa/Mastercard SoftPOS. - **Older co-badged cards.** Cards issued before the switch may still pair girocard with Maestro or V Pay. Whether those work depends on which brands your provider accepts, so ask before you count on them. - **girocard in a digital wallet.** Many German banks let customers add their girocard to Apple Pay. That digital card is girocard only, even if the physical card is co-badged. A customer who taps their phone may need to switch to a different card in their wallet, or tap the physical card instead. - **Customer habit.** Some customers think of their card simply as "my EC card" and may be surprised by the question "do you have another card?". A short, friendly prompt at the till helps. How big these gaps are depends on your customers. A city-centre café with many younger customers and tourists will see a different mix from a rural bakery whose regulars have banked with the same Sparkasse for decades. ## How merchants can plan for it A few simple steps cover most situations: - **Look at the cards your customers actually use.** If you already take cards, check how many payments use girocard and how many could have gone through Visa or Mastercard. If you don't take cards yet, a few weeks of simply asking at the till is surprisingly informative. - **Keep a fallback for the gaps.** For many small merchants, that is cash. For others, it is a dedicated terminal at the main counter alongside SoftPOS for tables, deliveries and events. - **Prompt for another card when one is declined.** "Do you have another card, or a card in your phone?" resolves most declined girocard-only payments. - **Show what you accept.** Visa and Mastercard acceptance marks at the entrance and the till set expectations before the customer reaches for their wallet. ## For platforms launching in Germany If you are a POS, booking or vertical SaaS company adding payments to your product in Germany, the same picture applies to your merchants, just multiplied across your customer base. Co-badging means a Visa/Mastercard payment flow covers a large and growing share of German debit cards. The gaps are real, but they are known and can be planned for: in your merchant onboarding, in the copy on your checkout screen, and in how your support team explains declines. That is the kind of market detail we work through with partners before launch, so the merchant experience in your product feels local from day one. ## The short version German customers do pay with girocard. But most German bank cards are no longer girocard alone. They carry Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard as well, and a Visa/Mastercard SoftPOS can accept them through that second brand. For most merchants, that means Tap to Pay on a phone covers a large part of everyday card payments, with a simple fallback for the customers it does not. If you want to see how this would work for your business or your platform, [take a look at Tapaya for merchants](/en/merchants), [our partner programme](/en/partners), or [get in touch](/en/contact).