How to Use ATM Card (Debit Cards) to Pay Online & in Apps

Recently much of the Indian population has resorted to e-wallets and cashless transactions due to the demonetisation of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes, which is actually a great thing, now most of your transactions are easy with online banking but online banking is not something every account holder or even most of them has, so our most convenient option is ATM / Debit Card.  

Most of the bank account holders possesses a Debit card which is more commonly known as ATM card in India. The most common use of it by people in India is to withdraw money from ATM machines but many are unaware or might have never used it for a cashless transaction using MPOS machine or an online transaction.

Using it through an MPOS machine is no different than using it in an ATM, swipe the card, enter the PIN, the rest is done by the shop owner or the merchant to get the payment successfully. 

How to use Debit / ATM Card for Online Trasactions

The first step towards using it is to make sure that your ATM card can actually be used for online transactions, however all major banks' ATM cards can be used as Debit card but still let's be sure, to check it, take your ATM card and look for the logo of a Debit card service company. Visa and Maestro are major ones so we will cover those. Here's what the logo of both services looks like

 

A look at the front side of your Debit Card might be similar to this. 

We have a UCO Bank Visa Debit card here. The 16 digit number, the "Valid Thru" number which is actually the month and the year your debit card is valid upto and the logo of the Debit card service, in our case it is Visa. 

Things to note down from the front.

1. The 16 digit debit card number. xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx

2. The valid thru month and year, this is always required, so you should remember it. 05/19 here is the fifth month i.e May and the year 2019. 

The following is the back of your Debit card which has the black magnetic stripe. 

At the back you will find the 3 digit CVV or CVC, this is always needed to safely proceed with transaction, it is always wise to not publicly disclose it to others, this adds an extra layer of security. 

From the back of the card, we have:

1. CVV/ CVC 3 digit number - XXX

Let's make a transaction

If you have shopped online before or have done recharge from for example say Freecharge, you may have noticed it gives you a lot of options for payment, Internet Banking, E-Wallet, Credit / Debit card. Internet banking is used by many, and most of them use it, but it is more time consuming, you have to go through entering passwords and username, adding OTP and in some cases transaction passwords, with Debit cards you can save your card details and use it in a flash. 

To make a safe and inexpensive transaction, let's use the FreeCharge app, it is a great app for mobile recharges, DTH, electricity bill and more. 

1. Download FreeCharge app from here and install it. Freecharge on Playstore | Freecharge on App Store | Freecharge on Windows Phone Store
2. Sign-up, use your phone number and email address to complete the sign-up process.
   
   
   
3. Now proceed to do a recharge of your mobile phone, DTH, or pay postpaid by. Choose the option from "New Payment" section.
   
   
4. Enter your phone number / DTH number, or customer ID depending on what kind of payment you are making. And proceed to the next screen, which will ask you to select an amount.
   
5. After you select an amount you are presented with the options to pay and enter Promo code (we have a promo code for new users, so you get Rs. 50 back on your first transaction!)
   
6. This is the screen you will get, it is pretty straightforward but still for your convenience here's a visual representation of what you will see and what do you need to fill in.
   
   
   
   1. Choose "Debit/Credit"
   2. Optional. For Rs. 50 cashback on transaction of over Rs. 150, enter the code R8R1DQN in the "Promo Code" field. Note that only the first recharge is eligible. So make sure you make a transaction of over Rs. 150 for cashback.
   3. Enter your card details. The sixteen digit debit card number, valid thru date and finally the CVV.
   
7. Once you have entered all the details correctly proceed to pay the amount. Now depending on your bank, it will take you to a payment page. There you have to enter the details it will ask. In most cases you will receive an OTP on your registered phone number that you have to enter in the payments page for the payment to be made by the bank from your account.
   
8. The previous part is different based on the debit card service and the bank, but it is easy, all you need is the details of your bank account. This is mostly one time, but, payments through debit card online will generally need OTP from your phone i.e whenever you are making a payment, the bank will send you a code that you have to enter to make sure it is you making the payment. 

In Freecharge app you can save the card details so you don't have to enter it each time you are making a payment. 

Where else I can use Debit Card to pay online

The best thing is that all major apps and online services accepts it, as it is the most standard way of paying online other than Internet banking. 

You can use it on Uber, PayTM, Amazon.in, Flipkart, Snapdeal, just about any website or app where you can make payments!