The one card I need

The other day I had an experience with a debit card that took me completely and pleasantly by surprise.

I went to my neighborhood “big box” super-store to purchase a few items. I got to the counter and swiped my debit card. After a few moments the young girl at the register casked me for a second credit card. I asked if there was a problem with my card. She said “no” and explained that the first card was only valid for certain products and that a second card was needed for the balance of the items. She said so casually as though this had always been the case. I said “oh, ok” trying to sound as though this was nothing new to me.

I swiped a second card. A few seconds later I had a receipt, my purchases and I was walking out of the store. As soon as i stepped outside I examined the reciept and I’ve known for years that card issuers categorize payments. A number of card issuers first offered that service years ago for business and later individual customers. But I did not realize payment processing systems were offering my latest experience. What struck me the most was the ability to process a single purchase spanning several credit cards. Seamlessly. Automatically. Quickly.

I got me thinking. Why can’t I carry one card at the register. A “master card” of sorts. One that I can link to several other cards. Where I can specify what purchases are charged to which card. For example charge health care products to my health care spending card, magazines to my debit card for my primary savings account, and everything else to my checking account debit card. Where I can view reports letting me know what I’m spending where, across accounts?