To date, bank cards have gained a truly wide popularity not only in Europe and America, but also among residents of the CIS. Plastic cards are rapidly replacing cash, becoming the main way to pay for a variety of goods and services. Against this background, when applying for a bank card, the question arises sharply: what is better to choose, a Visa card or a Mastercard?

For a more detailed consideration of the issue, it is worth finding out what the above payment systems are and what their positive and negative sides are. This, in turn, will help you decide on the bank card you need.

master card

MasterCard Worldwide or MasterCard Incorporated is a large international association of banks and companies operating on general rules use of cards. The corporation owns production units in a huge number of countries around the world. It combines about 22 thousand financial institutions. The main headquarters along with the global operating office is located in the USA.

Since the end of 2005, the Mastercard payment system has acquired the status of a public company, that is, its shares began to circulate on stock market without any restrictions. Until 2006, the corporation was managed by only 25,000 financial institutions. The creators of MasterCard Incorporated are Californian banks. It is worth mentioning that earlier the payment system was called Interbank / Master Charge. The creators of the corporation positioned their offspring as a direct competitor to BankAmericard.

Proprietary trademarks :

• master card — the main designation used for individualization in the field of visual interaction with Mastercard customers;
• MasterCard Electronic - entry-level electronic cards used in a high-risk environment: for example, for unreliable service purchasers and disadvantaged geographically isolated points of sale;
• Maestro is a debit card service created in the early 2000s with limited capabilities compared to Mastercard cards;
• Mondex - a product that allows you to use electronic money - a special system has been created for this, which allows customers to create and replenish electronic wallets, it works mainly in European and Asian markets;
• Cirrus is an interbank ATM network.

Among other things, MasterCard provides its customers with the opportunity to use the PayPass system, which allows making payments by presenting the card to the terminal. All transactions with Mastercard cards are made through the Banknet telecommunication system.

The corporation allows you to carry out financial transactions in a huge number of countries around the globe. The payment system accounts for almost ¼ of all bank card holders. The main currency of MasterCard is Euro. It is noteworthy that the association of banks and companies operating under the Mastercard brand does not impose any limits and restrictions on their customers when they carry out transactions with third-party ATMs. The opportunities provided to cardholders are determined by its type (initial, standard, premium).

Standard service cards belonging to MasterCard are issued absolutely free of charge. They are great for receiving pensions, salaries, social benefits and scholarships. It is also possible to connect additional options to them that will allow the client to pay for purchases, public utilities or use them as a passbook.

VISA

VISA International Service Association is one of the international associations of banks and companies that works according to the general rules for using cards. The corporation consists of two large companies:

• Visa Inc. - the owner of the trademark and the owner of the technologies used by the corporation;
• Visa Europe Services Inc. - company, bank manager located in the European part of the planet and operating under the licenses of Visa Inc.

Plastic cards used within the Visa Banking Association are used for payments in almost 200 countries around the world. It is not at all surprising that this corporation is a leader and a key figure involved in the creation and development of various payment technologies.

It is also worth mentioning that the Visa payment system in the early 2000s accounted for almost 60% of all existing on the planet bank cards points. While its main competitor MasterCard had a share equal to only 30%. At the moment, these figures have changed dramatically (Visa has 30%), and the situation has generally stabilized.

There are also Visa cards and credit cards. They can be issued for any of the available currencies. The card can be linked immediately to a large number of personal accounts with different currency units.

Due to the wide range of opportunities in the development of payment technologies, the corporation has a large range of services. This fact has a positive effect on the performance of financial transactions in the field of small and medium-sized businesses, as well as for corporations with large amounts fixed in the constituent documents. Base currency Visa — U.S. $.

Official site https://www.visa.com.ru/

Comparison of MasterCard and VISA

Having figured out what the associations of VISA and MasterCard banks are, you can proceed to the main issue to which this article is devoted, namely, what is better to choose, a Visa or MasterCad card, and talk a little about their similarities and differences.

The services of these corporations are widely used in most countries, about 20 thousand banks and various financial institutions. In other words, it will be difficult for you to find one or another institution where you cannot pay for any service using Visa or Mastercard bank cards.

If we consider the issue from the technical side (security of financial transactions, their speed, level of service), then there are no significant differences here either. Then what is the difference, you ask. The answer to this question can be obtained if we consider the cards of the "Premium" service level. This segment accounts for most of the differences. However, more on that later.

If we talk about the general differences, then among them we can distinguish three main groups:

1. Promotions from banks and financial institutions cooperating with payment systems.
2. The process of exchanging one type of currency for another, if it is different from the ruble.
3. Service level.

These are perhaps the three main points in which these banking associations may differ.

The difference between Visa and Mastercard for cards of various levels of service

Both corporations have cards, which, in turn, are divided into three levels, according to the services provided:

1. Elementary. Visa has Visa Electron, MasterCard has Maestro.
2. Standard. At Visa - Visa Classic, Mastercard has MasterCard Standard.
3. Premium. Visa has Visa Gold and Visa Platinum; Mastercard has MasterCard Gold and MasterCard Platinum.

The first group (initial) is for the most part cards for receiving wages. Here the level of service is not very extensive, that of MasterCard. Thus, cardholders belonging to this group cannot make payments in the field of web services. However, in some cases, customers have the opportunity to issue this service, but it is very rare.

If we talk about the differences between Visa and Mastercard in this segment of bank cards, then by and large there are two of them:

1. For cards belonging to the Mastercard payment system, you need to use a PIN code, in the case of Visa, its entry is not required. However, for the most part, this technical feature does not depend on the financial institution, but on which terminal the client uses.
2. The second, more significant difference can be seen when conducting various financial transactions abroad. So, for plastic cards belonging to the initial level, this service is not available by default and must be activated at the appropriate bank. And if for VISA cards you can do this without any problems, then for some Mastercard cards the option is not available in principle.

The data of the Corporation is united by one common advantage - a small fee for the provision of services, which usually does not exceed 200 rubles a year. Moreover, some banks do not charge it at all.

The second group (standard) - in this segment of cards, the difference between VISA and Mastercard is essentially completely absent. Standard level cards allow holders to make purchases in online stores, pay for various services and cash out at ATMs. At the same time, outside of Russia, such cards can also be used without much difficulty.

The third group (premium) — cards belonging to the Premium level have the most differences.

Services for Visa Platinum cards:

• "Protection of purchases";
• "Warranty Extension".

Services for Visa Gold cards:

• assistance in case of loss of the card outside of Russia;
• legal and medical services;
• ordering air and railway tickets.

Services for Visa Infinite cards:

• organization of moving;
• insurance discount;
• delivery service.

The above options are available to owners plastic cards premium visa by default. At the same time, it should be noted that earlier it was necessary to pay quite a lot of money for such cards, while now all this pleasure is quite cheap.

There are also a number of programs for Premium service cards operating within the Mastercard payment system. However, only two of them were originally designed:

• loyalty program of partners of the bank-manufacturer of the card;
• help in case of loss of the card.

The rest of the list of services is issued for a fee. That is why always check with your financial institution which options are enabled and which are not. This will help you avoid unnecessary expenses. From the services described above, it becomes clear that among the cards of the "Standard" and "Premium" levels, Visa looks more profitable.

Differences in currency conversion

Currency conversion is the process of exchanging one type of currency for another. It is in this financial action that the biggest difference between VISA and MasterCard lies. So, for Visa, the main currency is the US dollar, and for Mastercard, the euro. Since each financial transaction related to the conversion of the ruble (the main currency) into dollars or euros implies a commission, we can conclude that it is more logical to use Visa cards in the USA and its neighboring countries, while Mastercard - in European countries. This rule will save you from an additional commission, which, by the way, can reach 5%. It is worth noting that the commission for Visa can be found out before the financial transaction is completed, but for Mastercard only after it.

In contact with

IN Russian Federation credit institutions three main payment systems are used: Visa, Mastercard, MIR. The first two payment systems are the oldest and at the same time the largest in the world. In 2015, an alternative Russian system under the name MIR. So far, it is used only by Russian credit institutions and some banks operating in the near abroad.

When making credit card the client, as a rule, is not given the right to choose a payment system. It is assigned by default, since for the vast majority of directions for using the card, an almost identical mechanism is provided.

Visa and MasterCard cardholders use the same tools with some restrictions. As for the MIR system, due to its relatively recent launch, the restrictions in the process of use are much greater than in the first two cases.

Visa payment system

The first prerequisites for creating an innovative payment system appeared in 1958. Then "Bank of America" ​​issued the first plastic card under the name "BankAmericard". The name "Visa" was coined later - in 1976.

Since that date, Visa Corporation has been steadily growing in scale. Today it is a transnational system serving large enterprises, financial institutions, cardholders in more than 200 countries around the world. The company provides fast and secure access to non-cash transactions, as well as cash transactions.

Electronic transactions are carried out with the help of a modern payment processing system VisaNet. With the help of this processing system, more than 70,000 financial transactions per second are performed worldwide.

The company guarantees cardholders modern protection against all types of fraud, convenient conduct of all transactions, and prompt support. The official website of the company, where users can get all the necessary information, is located at https://www.visa.com.ru/.

Visa is not a lending institution. The company does not issue credits and loans, does not establish interest rates and does not issue its own plastic cards. Instead, the company offers a set of modern tools for banks to develop and optimize payments, improve security measures.

In the USSR, the corporation launched its activities in 1988. The first operator using this payment system was the financial organization Intourist, which issued the first plastic cards to athletes participating in the Seoul Olympics. The first credit institution to start working with the payment system is Sberbank of the USSR. The first ATMs were installed in Moscow back in 1992.

The Russian Federation is a member of the CEMEA organization, which consists of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, all of Africa, and the Middle East. There are 82 participating countries in total. Our country covers approximately 48% of all operations carried out in the CEMEA region. In monetary terms, the amount of all transactions is more than 220 billion US dollars.

To date, the number of ATMs accepting Visa cards, has more than 36,000 devices. The total number of outlets working with the system is more than 165,000 throughout the country. The company produces more than 25 types of layouts for creating plastic cards, differing in the set of tools, identification measures and security of the holder's funds.

Mastercard payment system

The year of foundation of this payment system is 1966. The first plastic cards were issued by the company in 1969 under the name "The Interbank Card". As in the first case, the main activity here is the processing of transactions between acquiring credit organizations, trade cooperatives, outlets, financial enterprises and organizations.

The name "Mastercard" has been used from 1979 to the present. The official website of the corporation is located at - https://www.mastercard.ru/ru-ru.html.

In terms of the volume of transactions made worldwide and the turnover of funds, MasterCard is significantly inferior to Visa: 20% versus 28.5% (according to data for 2015). The company does not issue cards and is not a player in the credit and financial segment. The main task is to ensure reliable, secure and fast payments 24/7.

In the USSR, the first cards issued on the basis of this payment system appeared in 1990. The first bank to start issuing Mastercard cards is Sberbank of the USSR.

Technologies used

In terms of developing innovative technologies, the company is noticeably ahead of its competitors:

• 1980s - the world's first plastic card with a laser hologram is issued;
• 1990s - the company releases the world's first Internet debit program "Maestro";
• 1997 - the advertising program "Priceless" is launched;
• 2001 - the Mastercard Consultant system is being developed;
• 2008 - Mastercard Europe and Europay France Corporation merge their transactions;
• 2010 - the Innovation Center is created, the task of which is to develop new ideas and projects;
• 2015 - the company introduces the MasterPass system;
• 2016 - the MasterPass system, after 9 months of testing, is launched into mass use.

The convenient contactless payment system known to many is PayPass, which was developed by Mastercard. So far, the system has been successfully used by owners of smartphones from Samsung and Apple. By 2020, it is planned to introduce a contactless payment system into all mobile phones. Mastercard is working on this project with the world's largest mobile phones— Nokia.

Comparing the Mastercard network with Visa, it can also be noted that the first option uses a peer-to-peer scheme - when all transactions are transmitted to all end points located like “cells” that act independently of each other. This is much safer than Visa's star-like method, where all operations converge at one point. Therefore, with a single failure here, the operation of the entire system may be disrupted.

MIR payment system

The official launch date of the national payment system is July 23, 2014. A system was created to ensure uninterrupted financial transactions during the period of disagreements between the Russian Federation and the United States. At the initiative of the US authorities, the Visa and Mastercard payment systems refused operational services to several Russian credit institutions.

The first card that can be used to pay in Russia and abroad was issued by Gazprombank. In 2016, it was announced that from the beginning of 2017 "the mass production of plastic cards based on the MIR payment system" will begin. From July 1, 2017, the Bank of Russia introduced the obligation to accept MIR cards by absolutely all credit institutions operating in the territory of the Russian Federation.

Unlike the world's largest Visa and Mastercard systems, MIR cards do not provide for additional commissions when withdrawing cash. This rule will not be revised in the future. This measure is aimed at stimulating the development of the national payment system and increasing loyalty on the part of Russian users. The official website of the payment system is located at - http://mironline.ru/.

Key advantage

The advantage of MIR cards is independence from global payment systems, political relations with Western countries, sanctions, and other adverse circumstances. By the beginning of 2017, more than 10,000,000 MIR cards were issued in the Russian Federation. The total number of card transactions exceeded 14,000,000 in July 2017 alone.

At the end of 2016, an initiative group submitted a project to the Parliament of the Russian Federation for consideration, according to which the use of MIR cards became mandatory for all state and budget institutions. The draft was amended accordingly and approved without lengthy debate.

Since January 2018, all budgetary and state organizations have switched to using MIR cards. This means that law enforcement officers, teachers, doctors, employees of other structures receive wages only on MIR cards. By 2020, it is planned to transfer all pensioners to MIR cards, which will be issued completely free of charge.

Again, on January 1, 2018, Sberbank of Russia and the MIR payment system launched a special promotion where participants can win a car or a cash prize. The essence of this promotion is that Sberbank MIR card holders pay for purchases in the amount of more than 500 rubles (once a month is enough), after which the bank randomly selects the winners on the 30/31 of each month. The main prize is money to buy a car.

In addition, consolation prizes are also drawn - 1,111 participants in the action receive 1,000 rubles a month as a gift. To participate in the promotion, users do not have to register, since all holders of the MIR Sberbank card become participants in the drawing automatically. Potential recipients of prizes are cardholders from any regions of the country.

: Some citizens are still skeptical about the national payment system, considering it "crude" and inconvenient. Therefore, most plastic cards are still issued on the basis of Visa and Mastercard systems. In a few years, the trend may be observed in the opposite direction.

Visa and MasterCard - what is the difference for users. How do bank plastic cards work? Which card is better to take on a trip Visa or MasterCard? How do you pay for goods abroad using cards? In what currency is it better to choose a card?

Visa and MasterCard are two international payment systems (hereinafter referred to as MPS), which are most common throughout the world.

There are a number of misconceptions. First, Visa is an American system, MasterCard is a European one. It is not true. Both companies are headquartered in the US. Based on this information, many also mistakenly believe that in Europe it is better to pay with MasterCard, because this payment system is more common, and in America (North and South) Visa. Another popular misconception is that Visa's main currency for settlements with banks is the dollar, while MasterCard has the euro. Therefore, it is better to take MasterCard to Europe (to the euro zone), and Visa to America.

This is wrong. It all depends on the particular bank that issues cards, its tariffs and terms of service. For you, the logo of which Visa or MasterCard payment system you have on your card may not matter at all.

How to pay by card abroad

Option 1. You are in any country in the world in which the national currency is not the euro or the dollar. For example in the Czech Republic. Therefore all prices are in CZK.

You have a plastic card in rubles.

You buy a T-shirt in the shop for 250 kroons. You give the seller your plastic card, the seller rolls it through the terminal, two seconds, the payment is made, the purchase is in your hands.

What happens in those two seconds.

1. Acquiring Bank — foreign bank, which serves the point of sale, receives from the seller information that 250 kroons must be deducted from your card. The acquiring bank does not have access to your account, therefore, it sends the request for payment of exactly 250 kroons to the International Payment System (hereinafter referred to as the IPS).

2. The IPU also does not have access to your account, so it must tell your bank (called the issuing bank) how much to deduct from you. Your card issuing bank does not have a kroon account with the IPU, nor does it have accounts in many other currencies that exist in the world. With the issuing bank in the IPU, an account can be opened in euros or in dollars. Now almost all banks have accounts in several currencies. The IPU itself converts 250 CZK into the currency in which the issuing bank has an account. Let's say your bank account is in dollars. This conversion takes place at a fair, market rate. For example, the MasterCard exchange rate for some currencies can be viewed. We can say that the Ministry of Railways does not make extra charges and does not try to make money on it. Let it be 1 dollar = 25 crowns. Total $10.

3. Your issuing bank, having received the converted amount of $10, authorizes (blocks) the money on your card at its internal rate (assume 1 dollar = 62.5 rubles). Funds at this moment are not actually debited from the account. Funds are debited from the account, as a rule, within a few days (but maybe weeks) after the MPS makes settlements between the two banks. Here, at the rate that will be on the date of the actual write-off, the purchase operation will be processed. That is, you will have an exchange rate difference, which can be either up or down (the exchange rate has increased or fallen).

Pay attention and don't fall victim to the next scam.

Recently, the news often comes across information that some countries, such as Turkey, have offered Russian citizens to pay for purchases in rubles. Or in Finland, in some stores you can pay for the purchase in rubles.

In many countries, when paying with a card, sellers began to offer to make a transaction in rubles, and some are also offered in dollars or euros. It's cleverly called Dynamic Currency Conversion. So, you should always pay for the purchase by card (and cash too) only in national currency- crowns, means crowns, zloty, let them be zloty.

Refuse such chic offers and check what the seller enters on the terminal. The rate at which the amount will be converted to you will be 5-15% worse than the official one. Acquiring banks try to earn on additional commission income, encourage sellers to engage in such conversion operations, which also benefit from additional income. The rate at which the amount will be converted by the payment system will always be more profitable.

Plus, in addition, some banks take commission for cross-border payments(for example, Sberbank has 2% for Visa, 0% for MasterCard, Alfa Bank has 2.5% for Visa and MasterCard).

What it is. When the acquiring bank and issuing bank are registered in different countries or the currency of the transaction is different from the currency of the issuing bank, the IPS takes a commission from the bank for the conversion. Visa calls it Optional Issue Fee and International Service Assessment, MasterCard calls it Cross Border Fee. Directly to the client, that is, to us, they should not be transferred. However, some banks set such commissions directly by prescribing in the tariffs, or lay in their conversion rate (for example, in the tariffs of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation + 2.5%) or hide behind the vague wording "the conversion takes place according to the rules of the payment system."

Here is a folk resource that is filled and updated by enterprising clients of different banks, you can check your bank for such commissions. Or call the call center and torment the operator.

Option 2. You are in Spain, in the Eurozone.

You have a card in euros. Buy a magnet for 10 euros. If your bank has a EUR account with the IPU, exactly 10 EUR will be debited from your card. If your bank only has an account in dollars in the IPU, then in this case the euro-dollar-euro conversion will take place and a slightly larger amount may be debited from your account.

Your card is in dollars. The Ministry of Railways does not convert the amount of 10 euros received for the magnet and issues the same amount to your bank if it has an account in euros, and then your bank converts 10 euros into dollars and writes off from your account.

Option 3. If you have a card in dollars or euros and you are still in a country where the payment is not in euros and not in dollars, then the conversion will be as follows. For example, Thailand, the purchase of 100 Thai baht will be converted by the MPS into one of the currencies in which it makes settlements with your bank, the bank will write off the amount received from your account. If there is no commission for cross-border payments, then he will write off exactly the amount that he received.

Thus, you can see that when making a transaction abroad, the money goes the following way:

1. Amount in the currency of the operation - the amount in the currency of your bank and IPS - the amount in the currency of your account.

2. It is possible to add commission for cross-border payments to these conversions.

And it all depends only on the tariffs of the bank in which you are served.

Therefore, to minimize your costs, you need to clarify:

1. What is the conversion rate? Central Bank, or Central Bank + interest, or internal.

2. Are there fees for cross-border payments? This question may cause difficulties for the operator (although Sberbank immediately admitted to a 2% commission for Visa, Raiffeisen Bank prescribes this in the tariffs), so describe the situation. If you want to open a card (Visa or MasterCard) in euros and go to Thailand with it, you will pay at the store. Payment system converts Thai baht to euros and issues this amount in euros to your bank. Will something be added to this amount?

The most popular cards with which various banking operations are carried out are Visa and Mastercard cards. What banking product is better to use for non-cash transactions?

Are you going to open a new card in Sberbank? Don't know which product to choose? The article is about the differences between the two world payment systems - Visa and Mastercard.

general information

General information regarding both Visa and Mastercard

Both cards:

Owned by American companies.

Allows you to make various payments by bank transfer.

Credit (debit) cards are accepted for banking operations around the world, including the Internet.

There are no territorial and time restrictions.

They have a high level of protection, which is constantly being improved (cards with a chip are issued).

Provide customers with a convenient service: round-the-clock support, insurance, bonuses.

They offer various types of cards: classic, premium, platinum, gold, electronic, virtual.

What is the difference between Visa and Mastercard

There are several facts that distinguish a Visa card from a Mastercard card:

The main currency of the Visa card is the US dollar. Therefore, if you plan to visit Thailand, Latin America, Austria, the Dominican Republic or the USA, order a Visa card.

The main currency of Mastercard is the euro and the dollar. When visiting some regions of Africa, and especially Cuba, it is unlikely that you will be able to make a payment without a MasterCard card.

In the Russian Federation, the Mastercard card is intended for banking operations in rubles and euros, Visa - in US currency and rubles.

Features of using Sberbank cards abroad

What you need to consider when ordering plastic cards for banking operations

If you plan to use a plastic card only on the territory of the Russian Federation, then there is no difference between them. Order any.

For people who often visit Thailand, Australia, the countries of North and South America, as well as countries located in southeast Asia, experts recommend ordering a banking product - Visa.

In Cuba, it is better to use MasterCard cards, others may not accept, or the conversion rates may be too high.

When traveling to Europe, it is better to use a euro or ruble account.

For those who travel often or go on business trips, it is better to issue both cards, but more high level. This will save you from problems if there are failures in the operation of one of the payment systems.

When registering correspondent accounts, there is also one difference between these two cards: Mastercard allows you to use the dollar and the euro, Visa - only the US currency.

Most banks most often offer registration plastic card Visa or MasterCard. The client usually does not think about whether there are differences between these payment systems, which one is more convenient and how to choose the right one. So, we will talk about all these aspects further.

In order to answer the question, what is the difference between Visa and Mastercard, one should consider the levels of banking products issued on the basis of these payment systems. Namely:

1. Electronic type cards. These are the simplest types of plastic that cannot be used abroad. In addition, they are not always possible to pay for the purchase on the Internet due to the 18-digit number. Some of these products are released immediately and without the customer's name embossed on them. Such plastic is available on the basis of Visa Electron or Maestro (the same Mastercard). Its cost is an order of magnitude cheaper than others, which is why it is often used to calculate pensions, social benefits or student payments.

2. Standard. Possess complete list basic functions. Allow you to make purchases online, make payments abroad, receive transfers and make payments. They have an average cash withdrawal limit. This product is a great option for those who just want a "no frills" card. Issued using both payment systems. It is these types of plastic that are produced as part of payroll projects.

3. Golden or Gold. This product has a higher status. To his characteristic features include higher limits for receiving funds through an ATM or cash desk, a preferred line of service (in some banks). A number of financial institutions allow you to withdraw money abroad while traveling without withholding a commission from the holder of such a gold card. annual cost maintenance of such plastic will cost several times more than the standard one.

4. Platinum. Visa Platinum and MasterCard BlackEdition are available for registration. In rare cases, such cards are issued at the request of the client. This product is available to large investors, representatives of corporate clients and VIP contingent. It has a significant limit on payments, transfers and cash withdrawals. Includes concierge service, additional life and health travel insurance, personal manager services. Annual maintenance starts from 10 thousand rubles.

It follows from the above that both systems are relevant for all levels of maps. There are only some differences in the names of banking products. Both debit and credit cards are available. Also, some banks offer overdraft cards (debit plastic with a credit limit).

General differences

The payment system (PS) is a special service that allows using hardware and software products to transfer funds to electronic form. The main difference between Visa and Mastercard is the PS currency. Visa was developed in the United States, and therefore the main currency unit here is the dollar. The system covers about two hundred countries, in Russia almost 30% of cards are issued with its use. It is Visa that is the recognized market leader.

MasterCard also works with the euro. Despite the fact that the head office of the company is located in New York, the company is considered European. Every 5th card is issued on the basis of this system, the coverage is 210 states.

Visa and MasterCard belong to the international type of PS. Their use is possible anywhere in the world equipped with a self-service device or an acquiring device.

Comparison of payment systems

Also, in order to decide on the choice of Visa or MasterCard, you should pay attention to their advantages and disadvantages:

1. Availability. MasterCard cooperates with hundreds of Russian banks. Visa has fewer partners – 85. Get MasterCard easier, regardless of the chosen bank. However, at the same time, in terms of the number of customers, Visa is almost two times ahead of MasterCard in Russia.

2. Spreading. MasterCard is accepted for payment in more countries, which is a definite advantage over Visa. For developed countries and large cities, this advantage is of little value. In retail outlets, you can pay with any bank card.

3. Online payment. Available for both PSs, except for the electronic level plastic.

4. Safety. Both systems operate on the basis of closed services that ensure the security of the personal data of the holder and his Money. The main task of the client is not to compromise the plastic. To do this, it is recommended not to disclose your card details to anyone, not to enter information on unknown resources, and in case of loss, immediately block it.

5. Use abroad. Any card, except for Electron and Maestro, is suitable for payment abroad. The exception is remote states that do not work with PS. In some cases, before traveling, it is recommended to clarify the payment methods in the territory of a particular state in order to avoid losing access to funds.

6. Additional options. Each PS offers cardholders additional insurance, concierge service, dedicated hotline. The availability of these services depends on the status of the plastic. In addition, the PS has special loyalty programs: they provide free movie tickets, excursions to the largest cities of Russia and the world, discounts in restaurants and shops.

What to choose?

It is difficult to say which card is better - Visa or MasterCard. The use of both products is convenient and safe, so it all comes down to personal preference in the first place. The key point for many is the use of plastic outside the state. In this case, the choice of product directly depends on the country of destination. For dollar-denominated countries, it is better to issue a Visa, for euro-countries - MasterCard. This measure will avoid double conversion. However, if the currency of the states is different (for example, baht, pounds sterling, yen, etc.), then a secondary exchange of currencies cannot be avoided.

The differences between Visa and MasterCard are not striking, but they exist. It is impossible to definitely recommend this or that plastic.

If the cards are planned to be used only on the territory of Russia, then the difference in choice will be close to zero.