Fifth Third Bank is the first U.S. issuer of a card that is both a debit and credit card in one. It’s called the Duo card, and Fifth Third customers can choose to use it to pay with money from their checking accounts or with their lines of credit.
Fifth Third released the card last month.
New and existing customers of Fifth Third, the largest bank by revenues and deposits in Greater Cincinnati, can apply for the Duo card. Customers must apply for credit and have a checking account to use the debit feature.
To use the Duo card as a debit card, customers will have to enter a PIN number.
“A lot of customers see value in using both debit and credit for a variety of reasons,” said Stephanie Honan, spokeswoman for Fifth Third.
Existing customers who use debit can step up to a second product line, Honan said. She said customers get financial flexibility to use debit for smaller purchases and credit for larger purchases.
“You have all of the functionality on one card,” she said.
Fifth Third started working on the card earlier this year, she said. Customers gave the company the idea, telling Fifth Third through market research, surveys and direct feedback at retail bank branches that it would be more convenient to have one card in their wallets instead of two.
To offer a card with two ways to pay, Honan said Fifth Third had to have the ability to route transactions as either credit or debit based on the customer’s choice at the point of sale. Fifth Third did not disclose more information about its internal system.
The Duo card is different from traditional debit cards that already let customers select debit or credit. A debit card holder can choose debit or credit when paying and enter their PIN or sign their name. But with a traditional debit card, the money comes from a checking account with both choices.
The choice for credit with the Duo takes money from a line of credit.
But Matthew Kakaris of Monroe feels having one less piece of plastic doesn’t make much of a difference.
Bob Cover, also of Monroe, said he uses a debit card to get cash from the ATM. If he uses a card to buy something, he uses credit.
“It’s not a big deal either way,” Cover said.
Kakaris and Cover said they’re not Fifth Third customers.
The Duo card will not start to replace Fifth Third’s other card products. Honan said the bank realizes the card is not for everybody.
“This is just another option to complement all of the options our customers have,” she said.
MasterCard provides the retail support to process a credit transaction.
Fifth Third Bank is the second largest bank behind First Financial in Butler County, with deposits in the county of $1.05 billion as of June 2010, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2551 or clevingston@coxohio.com.
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