Access

boltonian

Just for my own curiousity

1. What happened to access, and was is a credit card (e.g Barclaycard), or a thing like Visa/Mastercard?

2. How do Visa/Mastercard make their money?

Mark7799

1. Access was a part of the Mastercard group - the name was only used in the UK. It was a credit card but the name has now been dropped in favour of the generic 'Mastercard'
2. Interest charges on outstanding balances, annual fees, late payment fees, charges to retailers for accepting cards as payment - perm any combination of the above.

HTH

Mark

boltonian

What I dont understand is that you can get lets say LLoys TSB Credit Card in either Visa or mastercard.
Lete fees, interest etc get paid to LLoyds or whoever. So how does that equate to Visa?

Moglex

boltonian wrote:

What I dont understand is that you can get lets say LLoys TSB Credit Card in either Visa or mastercard.
Lete fees, interest etc get paid to LLoyds or whoever. So how does that equate to Visa?

Mastercard and Visa are the people who handle the actual card usage.

They act like a sort of brokerage service between the merchants (shops, hotels, etc) and the 'card issuers'. They are handling the mechanics of taking card payments and ensuring that the billing information reaches the appropriate banks.

So any bank can offer cards using either or both of those card handlers.

boltonian

So Lloyds or whoevr pay them for each transaction?

Moglex

boltonian wrote:

So Lloyds or whoevr pay them for each transaction?

Yes, one would assume that the merchant pays the bank a fee that is a percentage of the transaction value, and the bank pays the card handler either a fixed fee per transaction or a percentage of their own cut.

Rafter

Yup - Mastercard and Visa only provide the computer system that connects the merchants systems to the banks systems (and the same for cash machines for credit card withdrawls).

Mastercard and Visa then charge the banks depending on how much they use their networks and also a fee for each card the bank issues. This then covers their computer costs and the marketing and sponsorship costs.

Visa and Mastercard themselves are owned by the banks who are members, so the whole thing is a bit incestuous which is why the Office of Fair trading are always looking at them. Mastercard have announced they are going to 'privatise' though.

R

realaledrinker

Mark7799 wrote:

1. Access was a part of the Mastercard group
Mark

As I recall, Access was the trading name of the Joint Credit Card Company, set up to compete against Barclaycard by the likes of Lloyds, Midland, Nat West & no doubt others. In time these others set up their own operations as credit cards became more & more profitable for them.

The_Boss

I've seen the fee that the card company gets advertised in some stores as 2.5%. So even if you pay off in full every month, its no wonder that some card companies will try to bribe you with 0.5% and 1% introduction cashback offers.

dc

Genesis.

In the beginning the only cards for credit were called charge cards, of course an were an American invention. They were an exclusive form of club membership card, enabling mainly business folks and travellers to wizz about the world without cash, and pay for meals and hotels. Members were charged a hefty annual fee and had to pay in full each month. The biggest cards were called American Express and its rival Diners Club, and there was an element of snobishness and excusivity, that you get with airport lounges at mo. Basically you had to be rich to have one.

In the late 1960's Barclays Bank alone set up the UK credit card as you know it today. Just Barclaycard, nothing else.. There were may more "big" banks in those days, and as far as I can remeber Barclays was the biggest, so it did not have many rivals, the others amalgamated eventally to form the "big four" today. The Barclaycard was looked at with suspicion and contempt, the others were happy to align thenselves with the charge cards. I know the Westminster Bank preffered Diners club. The National Provincial Bank bought the Westminster and called themselves Natwest. Barclays had become bigger by buying Martin's Bank:money: Hello Grasshopper, He He. :rolleyes:

As Barclaycard became a real success in the early seventies, not wanting to be left out, Natwest teamed up with the Midland ( later HSBC) and set up the Access credit card in SOUTHEND, (I bet that rings a bell). Barclaycard used Visa for its international transactions, and so Access aligned itself with Mastercard.

Nowadays all cards have tie-ins with both, so you have the choice.

The main way cards make money is on the fee they charge the retailers for your business, small retailers donate around 6% of the cost of the transaction. Big outfits like DSG can get the fee down to 1.5% with the volume of business. Amex is reluctant to give fee discounts and that is why fewer stores accept Amex.

By the way the other month I was offered a priveledged customer American Express card, annual fee a modest £287, I declined
HTHs dc :xmastree:

King_Of_Fools

Access dropped its UK only brand in favour of the international Mastercard brand in much the same way as Switch changed to Maestro recently.