Thread: Which is better Visa or Mastercard?

I would like to know which is better Visa or Mastercard? They always say Visa/Mastercard together. Does that mean they are more or less the same thing or is there a difference between them?

Originally Posted by toiletsoup

I would like to know which is better Visa or Mastercard? They always say Visa/Mastercard together. Does that mean they are more or less the same thing or is there a difference between them?

There are slight differences between them but very little you would notice as a casual user.

Visa's merchant agreement is not acceptable to many government agencies so many colleges and government services do not acceptVisa but do accept mastercard and other cards.

It used to be that pay phones did not accept visa but did accept mc. But who uses pay phones anymore...

I would not considerthem to have any significant differences but depending on exactly what you want to do, there might be some minor differences that matter to you, especially regarding the extra benefits.

I don't know a whole lot about which is better but in my opinion I would have to say Mastercard because they are more prestigious. There are too many Visa cards out there but not as many use Mastercard.

I think Visa myself, just a personal preference thing. I have got a Mastercard debit card though but these days when shopping if a merchant accepts Mastercard they also accept Visa.

Originally Posted by fantasy86dj

if a merchant accepts Mastercard they also accept Visa.

Not true. There are many places that take MC but not visa

Originally Posted by Mogul of Pineapples

What types of places? I know there are certain events like the Olympics that only take Visa but I've never ran into a normal store that takes MC but not Visa.

It's rare but I have run into a few places. Usually it is when they have some sort of deal with one of the companies. Pay phones (yeah, I know, who uses those?) used to only take MC because of a relationship with AT&T. Some merchants in Europe do not take MC.

It's pretty rare. For teh most part V and MC are essentially the same.

When I was "collecting" cards 1-2 years ago I wound up with 3-4 Visas for every MC.

As for service, prestige, etc., I don't think it matters. MC has a nice payment tag if your bank offers it. However, you can only use it at McDonald's, CVS and probably a couple other glamorous places, it seems.

The bank behind the card is much more important.