Visa Or Mastercard: Which Is Better, What Is The Difference Between The Cards

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

Visa or Mastercard: which is better?

When issuing a card, the bank usually offers to choose its format - Visa or Mastercard. What are the pros and cons of these two systems? Let's consider the difference between them.

Visa or Mastercard: differences between cards

The main parameters by which these payment systems can be judged are prevalence, currency transfer and security. Visa is supported in 200 countries of the world, and Mastercard - in 210. For most people, this does not matter, and in countries popular for tourism, both of these systems are accepted. Most ATMs (both in Russia and abroad) work with both types of cards. A much more interesting point is currency translation.

Currencies

Visa has chosen the US dollar as the main currency, while Mastercard most often uses the euro. Nominally, the second payment system can work with the dollar, but this is rare in Russia. Any transactions related to the conversion of currencies will go through these currencies. What does this mean in practice?

If you are trying to make a payment that differs in currency from your account, then the conversion will be carried out at the rates of the payment system. Clearly - if you have a ruble account and you want to pay with a Visa card in a European restaurant, then the rubles from the account will be converted into dollars and then into euros. If in the same situation you pay with Mastercard, then the conversion will be one - from RUB to EUR. At each conversion, the cardholder pays a certain percentage to the bank, so the second option is more profitable. Hence the conclusion that it is best to travel to the USA with Visa, and to Europe - with Mastercard.

Currency conversion fees can be substantial

Table: choosing a payment system by country when traveling

Visa	Mastercard
USA	All European countries
Canada	African countries (except Algeria)
Australia	Cuba
Thailand	-
Latin American countries	-

Security

When making payments, cards from both systems use similar security parameters. Visa uses the Visa Money Transfer service. Mastercard has a similar technology - MoneySend. They are identical in terms of efficiency and reliability, and therefore for an ordinary user there is no difference in terms of safety.

When shopping online, both payment systems offer secure transfers. In this regard, there is no difference between Visa and Mastercard either. The only difference lies in the name of the three-digit code for transactions - CVC2 for Mastercard and CVV2 for Visa.

When contacting foreign online stores, do not forget about currency conversion. If you want to order something with payment in euros, then it will be more profitable to make a payment through Mastercard, and in dollars - through Visa.

When shopping on the Internet and in ordinary stores, there is no difference in terms of security

What to choose

If you make purchases only in rubles and do not plan to leave Russia, then the choice of the type of payment system does not play a big role. Check out the banks' offers - perhaps some of them have interesting promotions and discounts on servicing cards of a particular system.

If you travel frequently, the choice of card depends on the country you are planning to visit.

A competent approach to choosing a card can save you quite a lot of money when traveling abroad. In Russia, there is not much difference in which card to use - choose according to your taste and be guided by interesting offers from banks.