>>When a form on a web-site says CC (Credit Card) I can always pay with my debit card.

Here in Canada, many debit/bank cards now have affiliation with Visa or Mastercard (obvious with a logo in corner), and CAN be used as Credit Cards.

But that hasn't been the case historically - debit/bank card would work on bank's ATM and related Interact/Plus systems. But until semi-recently would NOT work if you accidentally hit "Credit" instead of "Debit" on ATM or retailer's POS system, and would NOT work on websites requiring Credit card - completely different paths. And to my knowledge many bank/debit cards in Canada still cannot serve as credit cards - they just don't have that capability/afiliation baked in.

Note - I speak as a semi-observant customer, I have no systems-based knowledge of these things :-)

For what it's worth, what you have is a Visa Debit (or Mastercard Debit) card, though the branding on them isn't consistent. Debit cards that can't interop with the Visa/Mastercard networks do exist, I have one .. mostly because I'm lazy and haven't asked for a change.

Dunno how rare they are, I suspect rare, but I can't find any numbers with a quick search.

All of Canada uses debit cards that don't work over the credit network. Some banks allow you to request a VISA number that's linked to your chequing account (for online use only), but debit cards use the separate Interac system.

Interesting. I should have been clear:

I suspect debit-only cards are rare in the US. Outside the US: No clue at all.

I have heard debit-only cards in the US referred to as "ATM cards" occasionally, but that was a few years ago. I think if an account belongs to a minor child, it may not be possible to get a regular debit card (that also works with the credit card network), but an ATM card may be possible? That's the only reason I'm aware of to get one.

Yes, there's a different kind of debit card. I usually use a different term that's country-specific (like the cards themselves).

For Germany, a German debit card (the "other sort", as you put it) isn’t the same as any other. It doesn’t have Visa or MasterCard co-branding like other countries’ debit cards, nor a 16 digit number, so it can’t be used online. I might also use the term "bank card" for this, because there are actual debit cards with Visa/MC co-branding which are available in Germany, but less common than other types.

It's also common for Germans to use "Kreditkarte" to mean anything with Visa/MC co-branding, which probably spills over into English. This also leads to the hilarious term "echte Kreditkarten" (real credit cards) for cards that actually have a rolling line of credit attached (these are rarely offered).

However, in the UK I recall that people are usually specific about whether they mean a credit card or a debit card.

There is another debit card here in Germany.

I have such a card and it is neither a MasterCard or Visa card. It looks like a Credit card with a Chip and magnetic stripe, but it has my IBAN on the front instead of a Credit Card number. These cards are the standard here in germany. If you have a german bank account you get one of these.

You can use it pretty much like a Credit Card and you can even pay contactless with it, but I think you can only do so here in Germany. Though it does not work if you only support credit cards.

Since these cards are standard and free some people do not bother with a credit card.