Visa and MasterCard are the two main payment networks in the worldwide financial industry when it comes to credit cards. The authorization and processing of transactions done on the cards of their associated networks is the responsibility of these two payment networks. These networks facilitate smooth payments by establishing a connection between retailers and your bank card. Nevertheless, you are unable to obtain a Visa or MasterCard credit card immediately. Instead, in order to issue credit cards, banks and NBFCs collaborate with these payment networks.

What is a Visa Card?

In the 1950s, Bank of America introduced the first consumer credit card in the United States of America, marking the beginning of the well-known Visa payment network. With its current worldwide reach, it allows users to easily make card purchases without the need for cash from anywhere in the globe. The Visa network now offers Debit, Prepaid, and Gift Cards in addition to Credit Cards, which were its only offering at first. Visa cards may be conveniently used for payments in several countries due to their widespread acceptance internationally. Financial institutions that have partnered with Visa process transactions over the Visa network.

What is a Mastercard?

A consortium of banks founded MasterCard in the 1960s to challenge Visa’s monopoly on payment processing, and it is now one of the biggest payment networks in the world. These days, a lot of international financial institutions engage with the network to provide cards with the MasterCard logo. For all transactions, these credit cards, debit cards, and prepaid cards only use the MasterCard network. With 210 nations and territories under its belt, MasterCard is an internationally recognized brand. Its main source of income is gross dollar fees collected from card issuers and merchants who take MasterCard-enabled debit and credit card payments.

Difference Between Visa Card and Mastercard