Visa or American Express… who should you choose? This matchup will give you the answer!

Round One: Size of Company

First, let’s a take a quick look at Visa’s basic stats:

Stock symbol: V
Value of company: $68 billion (Dec. ’10)
How many credit cards in US: 270.1 million (FY ’09)
How many debit cards in US: 382 million

Versus American Express:

Stock symbol: AXP
Value of company: $56 billion (Dec. ’10)
How many credit cards in US? 48.9 million (FY ’09)
How many debit cards in US: n/a

Winner? As far as the size of the company, Visa definitely beats AmEx in this round!

Round Two: Card Acceptance

American Express: Acceptance in the U.S. is very high; there are approximately 4.5 million merchants who accept their cards. Amex is also accepted in over 130 other countries, but its acceptance is usually much lower in other countries than it is in the U.S.

Visa: Acceptance in the U.S. is around 8 million merchants. Worldwide Visa is the most widely accepted credit card and can be used in over 170 different countries.

Winner? Visa is more accepted than Amex. That being said, here in the U.S. you can use your American Express at the vast majority of business, with the exception of some mom and pop shops (like dry cleaners, diners, etc).

Round Three: Best Credit Cards?

For starters, it’s important to note that Visa doesn’t actually issue credit cards… they only process the transaction. The banks that use Visa are the ones that control the cards, so you really can’t stereotype Visa, because one bank that issues them may suck, while another is spectacular.

American Express on the other hand does directly issue the vast majority of their credit cards. Generally speaking, their cards are tailored to upper middle class and come with more premium benefits.

Winner? American Express, because overall their cards have more benefits. However there are a number of Visa cards with great rewards and benefits too, but I think most people would agree that if asked, their card of choice would be an AmEx versus a Visa.

Final Round: Who Wins?

Overseas, Visa is probably your best bet. But here in the US, American Express has some pretty amazing cards with great benefits. So I would say Visa wins internationally and Amex wins here at home. However, there are some Visa cards that are better than Amex cards and vice-versa… it really just boils down to what you are looking for.

Here are two of the best deals currently available from each:

AmEx Delta SkyMiles – tons of benefits including a free flight with signup!

Chase Freedom – a great Visa card with no annual fee and up to 5% cash back

Visa and MasterCard… nowadays the words are often used interchangeably. However they are two different companies. What are their differences and similarities? What are the pros and cons of each? Find out in our MasterCard vs Visa showdown!

Round One: Size of Company

First, let’s take a look at Visa’s basic stats:

Stock Symbol: V
Marketcap (size of company): $64 billion as of Nov. ‘10
Number of U.S. Visa credit cards: 270.1 million (FY ’09)
Number of U.S. Visa debit cards: 382 million

And versus MasterCard…

Stock Symbol: MA
Marketcap: $32 billion as of Nov. ‘10
Number of U.S. MasterCard credit cards: 203 million (FY ’09)
Number of U.S. MasterCard debit cards: 125 million

Winner? For this part, Visa clearly is the winner as far as size is concerned.

Round Two: Card Acceptance

Visa: The company reported being accepted in over 170 countries by more than 30 million merchants FY ‘09. They also claimed that cardmembers could get ATM cash advances at over 1.4 million locations across the globe.

MasterCard: They claim to be accepted in 210 countries “and territories” at over 28 million merchants. Their network of ATMs reportedly consists of around 1.5 million locations.

Winner? It’s a tie. Visa has a slightly higher number of merchants, but MasterCard is reportedly accepted in more countries.

Round Three: Who Has The Best Credit Cards?

MasterCard and Visa don’t actually issue cards… they are just the payment network that transactions are processed over. So ultimately, things like credit card rewards, benefits, etc. rest on the shoulders of the issuing bank. The 6 biggest credit card companies (based on amount of credit issued) that issue Visa and/or MasterCard are: Bank of America, Chase, Citi, Capital One, HSBC, Wells Fargo.

So who between them has the best credit cards? Unfortunately there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. It really depends on what you are looking for. For example, some banks have good reward credit card from Visa, while others have good ones from MasterCard.

Winner? Another tie. Since the rewards and benefits are determined by the bank, ultimately it is the issuing bank that controls if a particular credit card is good or not.

Final Round: Who Wins?

If you live in the United States and that is where you will be using the card, essentially there is no reason to choose MasterCard versus a Visa card (or vice-versa). Instead you should choose based on rewards, benefits, and interest rates rather than the logo that’s slapped on the card.

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What is the biggest credit card purchase in history? Here’s the answer… sort of…

Imagine opening up your monthly credit card statement to discover that you owe $23 quadrillion dollars! Well, around 13,000 cardholders of Bank of America’s prepaid cards saw exactly that – an amount that is more than the entire planet’s GDP! Of course, there was not an actual purchase of that amount, but rather a glitch which caused these accounts to reflect that amount. A New Jersey man discovered this when routinely logging on to his B of A online accounts to check his balances. He first fled to the gas station where he last bought a pack of smokes to inquire on the charge. They had no idea what it was, so only then did he call Bank of America’s customer service, where he was on hold for more than two hours before they were finally able to resolve the problem. Visa responded by saying it was a “temporary programming error” in there systems… that sure is one heck of an error! They claimed they have correct the problem and refunded the overdraft fees associated with these errors.

Reported July 2009

Do you own a U.S. Airways Dividend credit card? Then you may be asking “Why did my U.S. Airways switch from Visa to MasterCard?” Well, it is very unusual for a financial institution to change from MasterCard to Visa and vice-versa. Historically, you only see this occur during a mergers and acquisitions, when the two companies are affiliated with different payment networks, so they therefore switch one so it’s the same for their entire card portfolio.

This is exactly what we saw with the U.S. Airways Dividend card. Bank of America sold off around two-thirds of the venture to Barclaycard (the American subsidiary of Barclays). It’s highly unusual that B of A will continue to own a small number of the accounts… neither companies would comment as to why.

If you a cardholder of the U.S. Airways Dividend MasterCard, there is no cause for concern. As of now, there doesn’t appear to be any other major changes to the accounts. Reps from Barclays have stated that they will ensure the accounts continue to be reported accurately to the credit bureaus and the length of time your account has been opened will be preserved.

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Written June 2009

A member on Credit Card forum pointed out the news that there is a new Visa black credit card which has just been released, but is this really nothing more than an imitation of the American Express Centurion card?

The Black Card (yes, that is the official name of the card) carries a $495 fee. That’s $45 more than the American Express Platinum card.

This black Visa card is made out of carbon graphite. It offers 24-hour concierge (like Visa Signature cards do). It also offers rewards and perks like airport lounge access.

So is it a knockoff? Well, it’s too early to tell, but it appears to be more similar to AmEx Platinum or Bank of America Accolades, rather than the Centurion. The Amex Centurion has a much higher annual fee ($5,000 initiation fee + $2,500 annual fee), tougher requirements for membership. The Visa Black card appears to be a card that more people will have access too.