| Types Of Cards |
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| Cards By Issuer |
:: Advanta :: American Express :: Chase :: Discover :: First National Bank :: HSBC Bank :: MasterCard :: Visa |
| Other Products |
:: Debt Consolidation :: Auto Loans :: Mortgage Loans |
| Articles |
:: Introduction to Credit Cards :: About Hiddden Credit Card Costs :: Balance Calculation Methods :: Chosing The Best Credit Cards Part One :: Chosing The Best Credit Cards Part Two :: Credit Card Costs Part One :: Credit Card Costs Part Two :: Credit Card Costs Part Three :: How To Save Money Part One :: How To Save Money Part Two :: What Kind of Card User Are You? |
| Choosing the Best Credit Cards, Part 1 |
Visa and MasterCard Many people think a Visa is a Visa and a MasterCard is a MasterCard, not knowing that there is a wide variety of prices and perks available on these brand-name cards. Visa cards and MasterCards are bankcards, which means they are issued by banks or other financial institutions (credit unions or savings banks, for example). Visa and MasterCard are two large associations of financial institutions. Visa and MasterCard do not themselves issue cards but instead provide the systems and support to thousands of individual banks across the country that do. You can think of each issuer operating as sort of a "franchise" of the Visa and MasterCard systems. Lenders must abide by the basic rules of those two companies in order to keep the whole operation running smoothly. Each issuer, however, is free to set its own credit standards, prices, credit limits, and many of the perks offered to cardholders. MasterCard and Visa are quite similar in terms of buying power and convenience. It's not unusual for someone to have a Visa and a MasterCard or two or more of each. (Why not?) In addition, most merchants accept both types of cards. Since each Visa and MasterCard issuer decides what type of customers to give cards to, you could find your application for a Visa (or MasterCard) turned down by one bank but accepted with no problem by another. Discover The Discover Card is a bankcard offered by Discover Financial Services, a business unit of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Co. Designed to be a competitor to Visa and MasterCard, Discover was introduced in the mid-1980s. Millions of cardholders quickly signed up for it. The Discover card is accepted by fewer merchants than Visa or MasterCard and is not an international bankcard. (You can only use it in the United States.) Its claim to fame has been its 1 percent cash-back rebate program, which promises to reward cardholders who spend, spend, spend. There are Classic, Gold, and Platinum Discover cards as well as affinity cards. To continue reading on part 2 click here |
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