Payment Methods in Belgium: Bancontact, Cards & Mobile Wallets (2026)

Most in-store payments in Belgium are made by card. In the ECB's 2024 SPACE study, cards were used for 53% of point-of-sale payments in Belgium. Across the euro area, the figure was 39%.

The local card scheme is Bancontact. In November 2025, Bancontact said nearly 18 million Bancontact cards were in circulation. Online, Belgians can pay with the same card or the Bancontact Pay app, alongside international cards, wallets and pay-later services. Since 1 July 2022, every Belgian business that sells to consumers has had to offer at least one electronic way to pay.

How people pay in Belgium

Offline payment methods in Belgium

• Cash: businesses generally may not refuse cash.

• Debit cards: Bancontact cards take contactless payments up to €50 without a PIN, and many now also carry Debit Mastercard or Visa Debit.

• Bank transfers: a transfer counts as an accepted electronic payment option under Belgian rules.

• Direct debit (domiciliëring): used for recurring bills, and a business may not charge extra if a customer declines it.

• Mobile payments: Bancontact Pay QR codes, plus Apple Pay and Google Pay at contactless terminals.

• Vouchers and gift cards: employers can give staff eco vouchers and gift vouchers from issuers such as Edenred.

• Electronic meal vouchers: they come on cards such as the Pluxee Card and are spent in supermarkets and restaurants, also through Apple Pay and Google Pay.

List of payment methods in Belgium

Bancontact

Bancontact is Belgium's own card scheme, running since 1979. It is run by Bancontact Company (called Bancontact Payconiq Company until spring 2026), which the National Bank of Belgium supervises. Banks such as Argenta, KBC and Crelan put Bancontact on a debit card that also carries Debit Mastercard or Visa Debit. Online, shoppers enter their card details and confirm in their bank app, the itsme app or with a card reader. Bancontact One Click handles recurring payments such as subscriptions.

Bancontact Pay (formerly Payconiq by Bancontact)

Bancontact Pay is the Bancontact mobile app. Until 2026 it was called Payconiq by Bancontact, and the Payconiq brand is being retired during 2026. In November 2025 the company counted 2 million active app users. They scan QR codes to pay in shops (up to €1,500) and online, pay other users (up to €750) and settle bills from partners such as Luminus and Farys. Shops take these payments through Bancontact Pro, the new name for Payconiq's merchant service, and various bank apps can scan the same QR codes.

Wero

Wero is a wallet from the European Payments Initiative (EPI), launched by 18 banks and financial service companies. It runs on instant account-to-account payments inside banking apps, such as Crelan Mobile. It has handled payments between people in Belgium, France and Germany since 2024, and EPI says it now serves 59 million users. Payments to shops are rolling out in Belgium through 2026. Bancontact Pro's new shop stickers, introduced in spring 2026, carry a QR code that mentions both Bancontact Pay and Wero.

Mastercard

Mastercard is an international card network. Several Belgian banks, including Argenta and KBC, now issue debit cards that carry both Bancontact and Mastercard. Argenta says the Debit Mastercard side lets customers pay and withdraw cash worldwide wherever the Mastercard logo appears. Online, the same card works wherever Bancontact or Mastercard is accepted.

Maestro

Maestro was Mastercard's debit brand, and older Belgian debit cards carried it. Mastercard is phasing out Maestro across Europe. Belgian banks are replacing it with Debit Mastercard or Visa Debit. KBC, for example, tells customers with a Maestro card to keep using it until it expires. A new card with the Mastercard logo then arrives automatically.

Visa

Visa is the other international brand on Belgian debit cards. Crelan's debit card, for example, is the Bancontact-Visa Debit, which works on both the Bancontact and Visa networks. Belgian banks also issue Visa credit cards, such as Crelan's Visa Gold.

PayPal

PayPal has a Belgian site and serves shoppers in Belgium. They keep their cards and bank accounts in a PayPal account and pay with it at checkout. PayPal Buyer Protection covers eligible purchases. Users can also send and request money.

Klarna

Klarna is a pay-later provider for online shopping. In Belgium it offers two options: pay now, or pay later within 30 days. Klarna collects the money from the shopper.

American Express

American Express offers cards in Belgium through American Express Europe's Belgian branch in Brussels. The Belgian range includes the Platinum, Gold, Green and Blue cards. Businesses accept American Express through a payment provider that supports it.

Discover and JCB

Discover, the card network Capital One bought in May 2025, and JCB, which calls itself Japan's only international payment brand, are not Belgian card brands. Some payment providers let Belgian businesses accept them, but they only matter if you sell to their cardholders.

Google Pay

Google Wallet supports contactless payments in Belgium. Users add a card and tap their phone to pay, or pay in apps and webshops that support Google Pay. KBC and Crelan are among the banks that support it. At Crelan, it works in every shop where the customer could pay contactless with their Visa Debit card. Meal-voucher cards such as the Pluxee Card work with it too.

Diners Club

Diners Club International is a card network that Capital One took over with Discover in May 2025. Some payment providers let Belgian businesses accept it, sometimes as one option together with Discover. Offer it if your customers ask for it.

Amazon Pay

Amazon Pay lets shoppers check out on other websites with the payment and delivery details saved in their Amazon account. They confirm the payment by logging in to Amazon. Businesses in Belgium can offer it through payment providers that support it.

UnionPay

UnionPay, also known as China UnionPay, is a card network from China. UnionPay International says its cards can be used in 183 countries and regions, and it lists Belgium among them. Some payment providers support it for businesses in Belgium. Consider it if you serve visitors from China.

SOFORT (now part of Klarna)

SOFORT was a bank payment method. Shoppers were sent to their bank's online banking to approve the payment. Klarna, which owns SOFORT, folded it into its own product range in summer 2024, where the same flow is called Pay by bank. SOFORT is no longer offered as a standalone payment method.

paysafecard

paysafecard is a prepaid way to pay online without a bank account or card. Shoppers buy a code in a shop and pay with its 16-digit PIN. Without an account, each payment is capped at €50. With a registered paysafecard account, the cap is €1,000 per transaction.

Alipay

Alipay is a Chinese digital wallet with more than a billion active users worldwide. It serves Chinese consumers, overseas Chinese and Chinese travellers. Some payment providers let Belgian businesses accept it online. Consider it if you sell to customers from China.

WeChat Pay

WeChat Pay is the payment wallet inside WeChat, the Tencent app, and has over 800 million users. Like Alipay, it serves Chinese consumers, overseas Chinese and Chinese travellers. Some payment providers let Belgian businesses accept it online, and in some cases in store.

Apple Pay

Apple's list of Apple Pay banks in Belgium, published in August 2026, includes Belfius, BNP Paribas Fortis, Fintro, ING, KBC, Crelan, Beobank, Keytrade and Triodos, plus Revolut, N26 and bunq. Users add a card to Apple Wallet and pay at contactless terminals, and in apps and webshops that show the Apple Pay logo. Bancontact itself works in Apple Pay only for Belfius and Crelan customers so far. Meal-voucher issuers Pluxee and Edenred are on Apple's list too.

SEPA Direct Debit (domiciliëring)

SEPA Direct Debit lets a business collect euro payments straight from a customer's bank account. In Dutch it is called domiciliëring. The customer gives their IBAN and accepts a mandate, and the business then collects each payment itself. Customers can have a debit refunded, no questions asked, for eight weeks. Belgian rules bar businesses from charging extra when a consumer declines to pay this way.

Accepting payments from customers in Belgium

Shuttle Links Checkout gives you a branded payment page that you can send by email, SMS or chat. It works with any compatible payment provider. Talk to us.

Accepting payments in Belgium as a platform

If you run a software platform with merchants in Belgium, your merchants may already have a payment provider. Shuttle is a payment layer. You integrate once, and each merchant connects a compatible gateway. Shuttle supports 40+ payment providers, including Mollie, Adyen and Stripe. Merchants keep their own provider agreements and rates.

See how Shuttle works for platforms or book a discovery call.