thread Re: My Square chip doesn't read Canadian debit card. in Hardware Setup & Troubleshooting

My Square chip doesn't read Canadian debit card.

hasan — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 12:29:27 GMT

hello, I just got my square contactless chip reader. I tried the chip reader for debit but it doesnt read it. It reads Visa, Mastercard but it doesn't read any debit card. I bought it only for this reason, so I can accept debit cards. Some debit cards dont have tap option,so how am I gonna accept payments???

canada, Vancouver

Re: My Square chip doesn't read Canadian debit card.

TDTB — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 22:26:24 GMT

I am having the same problem; even when I try the tap...It says that the bank is unknown.

Re: My Square chip doesn't read Canadian debit card.

Doghouse — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 18:13:05 GMT

I am wating for a return phone call to resolve this problem. I don't get any message though, it just doesn't do anything, but the swipe works.

Re: My Square chip doesn't read Canadian debit card.

Doghouse — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 20:01:11 GMT

I received a phone call back. I didn't have the chip reader paired with the app. Then, when you click on charge and it brings up the method of payment screen, there is a line that reads "Contactless". Click on that and it starts the procedure. I tried with a President's Choice debit card and a CIBC Visa. They both worked!

aveRe: My Square chip doesn't read Canadian debit card.

thebrowbarbym — Fri, 08 Dec 2017 20:07:09 GMT

I am having this exact issue with my RBC debit chip and ive tried many ways to get it to work, reader is connected and accepting taps from this card but, not accepting the inserted chip. Been on hold for 20 minutes and no success yet. Help!

-Melissa

Re: My Square chip doesn't read Canadian debit card.

Tom — Sun, 24 Feb 2019 22:43:48 GMT

Hello @hasan, thanks for reaching out, and I apologize for our delayed response. I wanted to check in and make sure you got a followup on this.

At this time, the only way we're able to support debit card transactions in Canada is via the tap method, and the debit card must have the Interac label on it. We are tracking requests to support more card types and we'll certainly announce any updates.

In the meantime, your customers can pay with Visa co-branded debit cards and credit cards using either Square Invoices or Virtual Terminal — wanted to share that as a possible workaround.

Keep an eye on this article for accepted cards and please let me know if you have any further questions.

Re: My Square chip doesn't read Canadian debit card.

nbcbrewm — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 13:27:24 GMT

Well my only good source of accepting debit non Tap (Dream Payments) announced they were getting out of the business. So now I really need Square to step up and make Chip payments a reality for all cards in Canada

Please make this happen I love every other aspect of Square (I had actually left square for a time as they did not accept tap debit, but came back because it now works so good ) If you could activate chip EMV on the Canadain market you would increase sales here !!

Re: My Square chip doesn't read Canadian debit card.

Helen — Fri, 08 Jun 2018 16:06:40 GMT

Thank you for your post @nbcbrewm. I hear you and I'll share your request with the Payment Team. We are always working to make sure sellers can accept more payment types and I know this is really important to your business. If we have any updates on this we'll let everyone in this thread know.

Thanks again for choosing Square! 😀

Re: My Square chip doesn't read Canadian debit card.

Diana-OTCC — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 15:54:02 GMT

The main reason we went with Square is because I spoke with someone on the phone who said that Square accepts Canadian debit cards, so a kinda-sorta answer is not acceptable. We really need this to work without a work-around. I hope there's a solid solution in the works!

Diana

Re: My Square chip doesn't read Canadian debit card.

EJ_ — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 16:37:44 GMT

Thanks for voicing your thoughts on this @Diana-OTCC

We know how important this is for our Canadian sellers. Stay tuned for updates and hopefully we can get something rolled out in the near future to resolve this for everyone.

Re: My Square chip doesn't read Canadian debit card.

Columneetza1 — Wed, 11 Jul 2018 04:41:14 GMT

This really nees to get fixed fast, as it is costing me clients, spoon feeding my competition, and I am losing $7,000 per month as a result.

Re: My Square chip doesn't read Canadian debit card.

CaringTx — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 20:32:42 GMT

I too have been frustrated by square not working for many Canadian debit cards. I have learned that some debit cards need to have their pin entered every so many transactions to ensure that it hasn’t been stolen. This explains why the same client sometimes can get the debit tap to work and the next time it fails.

i have simply stopped telling people that I accept tap debit and now get e transfer payment. Square loses their 0.10 $ but my clients don’t have to feel embarrassed because square rejects their card.

Please square... fix this problem!!!!

Re: My Square chip doesn't read Canadian debit card.

TranquilYogi — Sun, 14 Oct 2018 02:12:05 GMT

I am using my square reading for the first time heavily this weekend... This lack of 'true' debit support is killing me! 30-40% of my transactions declined... Square.. your own website says that 56% of all transactions in canada are debit... um... fix this!

Re: My Square chip doesn't read Canadian debit card.

YKBaby — Sun, 21 Oct 2018 00:42:55 GMT

For a 25 Billion Dollar company, this is very unfortunate. Square You Need to Rectify this Situation ASAP Please!!

Card Reader: Why does the tap work for debit cards but it doesn't work when you insert the card?

bkeichinger — Sun, 24 Feb 2019 22:49:55 GMT

This reply was created from merging an existing thread: card reader

so why does the tap work on the square reader but when they insert there chip card that is debit card it doesnt work and i do have the contactless+chip and the chip part doesnt work but the tap does

Re: Card Reader: Why does the tap work for debit cards but it doesn't work when you insert the card?

Helen — Sun, 24 Feb 2019 22:48:36 GMT

Hi @bkeichinger, I'm moving your post to this thread so you can read Tom's reply on page 1. If it's possible to accept a debit card by inserting it to the reader in future we'll update this thread to let everyone now.

For now you can only accept Interac enabled debit cards for payments up to $100 using the tap function of the reader.

Re: My Square chip doesn't read Canadian debit card.

Trinity66 — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 18:21:15 GMT

I live in Toronto and also are not able to receive my clients debit cards by either swipe or insert contact payment . My sales are over $100 so the tap option is not a possibility . This is a big drag and I hope you at Square are going to solve this problem sooner rather than later - I have already jumped ship from the Moneris POS with Royal Bank of Canada which also has flaws . Please remedy this issue as some people don’t use credit cards !

Re: My Square chip doesn't read Canadian debit card.

Trinity66 — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 18:27:59 GMT

It looks like from the thread that this is an old complaint .

Square you are obviously not working on this problem - tap needs to be more than $100 or you need to start coordinating with Canadian banks and their debit card system . Please respond .

Re: My Square chip doesn't read Canadian debit card.

Trinity66 — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 18:30:41 GMT

November 2017 - March 26th 2019 . Issue still not resolved . Not impressed .

Re: My Square chip doesn't read Canadian debit card.

NakuspTaxi — Sat, 06 Apr 2019 10:31:23 GMT

So... considering this was first brought to Squares attention 16 months ago, and it sells its contactless/chip reader in Canada on being able to insert cards, I feel rather mislead as to the services that Square can provide.

I have clients who have debit cards that do not have a tap ability. This inability for the system accept inserted chip yet take contactless tap is utterly baffling to me. Could somebody at Square please explain why it is taking over 16 months to provide a complete service, @Helen ? Perhaps somebody from the implementation team, if one exists. Basically something other than "we will let you know if the situation changes" which seems to have been the answer so far.

Thanks