Mastercard / Visa - what's the difference??

moneypooh

OK probably a stupid question but I've never understood the difference. Are they just different resources of credit? Is one better than the other - more widely accepted???
(I have a CO World Mastercard now and have been looking at all the ways of maximising cashback with the initial 4% and of course cashback websites)

sorry if this has been explained elswhere I did look but couldn't find it, thanks.

MP

jamalfatty

They are pretty much universally accepted now. It used to be the case that one was more widely accepted in the US, and the other in Europe, this is now pretty much in past though.
Only reason I've ever known to go for one over other was to get tickets for World Cup, because of the sponsorship they would only take MC

Mr._H_2

Neither Visa nor Mastercard provide credit. The credit is provided by whichever institution issues the card (e.g, Egg, MBNA, Capital One, etc.).

Visa and Mastercard are companies that provide the credit card systems that deal with the transactions (e.g., it's their computers that are being contacted when you enter your pin into a chip and pin machine). They make their money by charging transaction fees, some of which they keep and some of which is passed on to the issuing bank.