MasterCard/Visa, Maestro & Visa Electron

khurammm

Maestro acceptance is continuously improving, and card acceptance is currently around 960,000 locations and internet sites in the UK, and 7 million locations world wide. Over 100 countries accept Maestro. But, many do not, so be sure to check acceptance before using Maestro card for your holiday money or international money transfer. Maestro cards can be used at the ATM internationally, wherever you see the Maestro or Cirrus payment mark.

Visa or MasterCard is currently accepted around the globe at merchant outlets and ATM machines, where you see the Visa/MasterCard (or Delta/Plus/Maestro/Cirrus) sign. You can use your Visa/Master card at more than 24.6 million locations worldwide.

A Visa Electron card works like a Visa credit or debit card, with the exception that each transaction must be electronically authorised. Your Electron card is accepted at over 12 million electronic merchant locations worldwide, in over 160 countries. Visa Electron is accepted at over 1 million ATM’s displaying the Visa or PLUS payment mark.

Quick Card Acceptance statistics:

-Best Card Acceptance is Visa or MasterCard with Global acceptance at 24.6 million locations.

-Next choice is Visa Electron with Global acceptance at 12 million locations.

-Least accepted payment card is Maestro with Global acceptance at just 7 million locations.



The above is just a comparison between the card brands and their acceptance.
Visa and Mastercard are kept together in the comparison because they have almost the same acceptance rate.
Mastercard is a credit card and Visa card is also a credit card but there are also Visa debit cards.
Visa Electron and Maestro are debit cards.

khurammm

I just put this thread to help those people who still ask that which card is better and which to get.

Kilty_2

Depends if it's for worldwide or UK use.

In the UK, Maestro has FAR greater acceptance than Visa Electron.

khurammm

Kilty wrote:

Depends if it's for worldwide or UK use.

In the UK, Maestro has FAR greater acceptance than Visa Electron.

I agree with that but Visa Electron is accepted almost every where in UK now plus if you have to travel abroad, you can count on the electron.
By the way the best is to have a Visa or MasterCard so that you dont have to worry about maestro or electron.

SparciaM

I have a Maestro and Visa Debit, and never had any problems with Maestro at all.

HSBC actually told me that Maestro abroad is better than Visa Electron, that is why they have it. Basically aint Maestro just switch but under a different name? As HSBC used to have switch and now it's Cirrus/Maestro

Kilty_2

I doubt Maestro is better abroad than Electron, Visa operate an "accept all cards" policy in a lot of foreign countries where if the card carries the Visa brand in any way the store can't refuse it, so Electron will be accepted anywhere Visa is...

s1h

Maestro is very big in Holland and Germany

newfoundglory

Lets just summarise here... you cannot go wrong with a full VISA DEBIT card. You can however go seriously wrong with Maestro.

The problem lies with how the payments are processed. Visa debit card payments can all go through the Visa clearing system which means you can use visa debit anywhere in the world where visa is accepted.

Visa has virtually the same acceptance as Mastercard worldwide. But Maestro (which does have slightly better acceptance in europe) is not accepted everywhere Mastercard is. I have travelled to many places around the world - I have seen many many places not accept Maestro - but everywhere accepts Visa. There are a few places which don't accept mastercard - most likely something to do with their high transaction fees!

You can however encounter the unusual situation where Visa Electron is accepted but Visa Debit isnt. In which case a credit card is required.

This is the reason I carry 4 VISA debit cards, a VISA credit card and 1 mastercard for backup. Leave your Maestro card at home.

colin79666

I actually switched my current account away from the Bank Of Scotland when they gave me a Visa Electron card. I still run the account and have the card but I now do most of my banking with a rival which gave me a Maestro. Reason?
Simple the Electron card was a real pain for online shopping!
Tesco.com still don't take it as well as various other sites I visit on a regular basis.

Kilty_2

Yes, Electron is still a pain at times online.

I've stopped using my Bank of Scotland account so often for that reason, I now bank mainly with Lloyds TSB who provide a Visa Debit card on their under 19's account

Phoenix79_2

newfoundglory wrote:

Lets just summarise here... you cannot go wrong with a full VISA DEBIT card. You can however go seriously wrong with Maestro.

The problem lies with how the payments are processed. Visa debit card payments can all go through the Visa clearing system which means you can use visa debit anywhere in the world where visa is accepted.

Visa has virtually the same acceptance as Mastercard worldwide. But Maestro (which does have slightly better acceptance in europe) is not accepted everywhere Mastercard is. I have travelled to many places around the world - I have seen many many places not accept Maestro - but everywhere accepts Visa. There are a few places which don't accept mastercard - most likely something to do with their high transaction fees!

You can however encounter the unusual situation where Visa Electron is accepted but Visa Debit isnt. In which case a credit card is required.

This is the reason I carry 4 VISA debit cards, a VISA credit card and 1 mastercard for backup. Leave your Maestro card at home.

All my current accounts have Maestro cards and having travelled to a number of countries I can safely say that I have never had a problem in using it. Perhaps i haven't travelled to as many far flung places as you! Saying that i put the majority of transactions abroad on credit cards anyway. I have always though abbout getting an account with a Visa debit card 'just in case' the Maestro network goes down......i know it does happen as it happened a few months back on a sunday when all HSBC Maestros failed to work for a number of hours