A few belated comments: 1. Domestic systems may differentiate between credit cards and debit cards, but this does not work internationally because all the cards are processed on the same system. If you take a non-US-issued Visa or Mastercard branded debit card to a US car rental agency, for example, there is no way they can tell it is not a "credit" card. Provided, of course, they can block their security deposit. Which means you need a substantially higher balance than you might actually plan on spending.
2. For this reason, basically any offshore debit card with Visa or MC logo is equally useful to a credit card. 3. For those that are not aware, Maestro is actually a brand of Mastercard. Maestro is however known to be a debit card. 4. We can issue offshore Mastercard debit cards to our clients if required. The security deposit required by the bank is about $1000. Likewise with American Express, but security deposit is around $10,000. 5. Some banks now issue Maestro-branded credit cards. These are real credit cards offering revolving loans but they are processed through the Maestro system which is cheaper. I think this is a trend we can expect to see developing fast. 6. Mastercard have announced that Maestro will soon be acceptable on the internet. 7. With the exception of the internet, I am sure Maestro is accepted in many more merchants worldwide than American Express is. It all depends what you want to buy and where. Regards Nick Fidex --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses.
