topic Re: Diversity in Credit Cards

Diversity

Anonymous — Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:40:52 GMT

Is it good to have diversity in card merchants such as Visa, MC, etc? I am wondering because my cards are all MC and Amex and was wondeing if I should have a Visa as well.

Re: Diversity

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:47:28 GMT

The chances of you going somewhere that takes visa and not MasterCard are slim to none.

Re: Diversity

FireMedic1 — Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:51:24 GMT

It doesnt matter. A card is a card. It was just discussed in a earlier thread. If your a high roller then WEMC's and Visa Signature benefits may come into play, Check out yesterdays thread--->https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Mastercard-or-Visa/td-p/5352136

Re: Diversity

MrDFinance — Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:57:28 GMT

I think it's more important to worry about having a Visa or MasterCard if your traveling... AMEX is the only one still til this day you find trouble using abroad.....

But if you have MasterCard I think your covered...

I definitely wouldn't apply to a card just to get the visa logo....

Re: Diversity

Medic981 — Sun, 09 Sep 2018 23:00:16 GMT

Don't forget about having a Discover card!

Re: Diversity

Anonymous — Sun, 09 Sep 2018 23:02:43 GMT

I just apped for a Discover it secured with $2500 CL, should be here soon!

Re: Diversity

imaximous — Sun, 09 Sep 2018 23:11:07 GMT

It matters sometimes. If you ever think about shopping at Costco, you'll need a Visa card -- or you could always take a trip to a Costco in Canada since they take MC.

Re: Diversity

Anonymous — Sun, 09 Sep 2018 23:13:16 GMT

Costco is actually what prompted this as the only Visa I have is debit

Re: Diversity

kdm31091 — Sun, 09 Sep 2018 23:16:48 GMT

99% of the time it really doesn't matter. Visa/MC are almost always interchangeable. Not worth worrying about it unless you are in one of the fe specific situations (i.e. Costco) where it matters. Otherwise, focus on benefits and features outside of the network because it's pretty meaningless most of the time.

Re: Diversity

Medic981 — Sun, 09 Sep 2018 23:17:45 GMT

My goal at the beginning of my rebuild was to have one CC each from the four payment networks which I finally achieved last month with my Amex.

Re: Diversity

staticvoidmain — Sun, 09 Sep 2018 23:33:44 GMT

My 2 cents, based on experience, yes.

In your case, Mastercard is good. You are a lot likelier to have issues with Amex acceptance from merchants. Although uncommon to encounter a merchant that accepts only either MC or Visa, there is still a chance (Here are my thoughts in another thread). I would not worry about Discover, really, unless you really want their cards.

Re: Diversity

pinkandgrey — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 00:12:02 GMT

I don’t think it matters. Most places accept even Disco and Amex anymore and even if you find somewhere that doesn’t, it will certainly take MC.

Re: Diversity

kdm31091 — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 02:13:49 GMT

@Medic981 wrote:
My goal at the beginning of my rebuild was to have one CC each from the four payment networks which I finally achieved last month with my Amex.

I see this a lot, but not sure I understand the reasoning, other than a "collection" standpoint. For practical use, at least in the US, there just isn't much difference. I rarely even see Disco/Amex not taken, although at smaller stores you can still have an issue occasionally. Visa/MC are one and the same in almost every situation.

Re: Diversity

Medic981 — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 17:21:50 GMT

@kdm31091 wrote:
@Medic981 wrote:
My goal at the beginning of my rebuild was to have one CC each from the four payment networks which I finally achieved last month with my Amex.
I see this a lot, but not sure I understand the reasoning, other than a "collection" standpoint. For practical use, at least in the US, there just isn't much difference. I rarely even see Disco/Amex not taken, although at smaller stores you can still have an issue occasionally. Visa/MC are one and the same in almost every situation.

My reasoning for wanting all four of the networks is that if one network happens to be down, then I have cards from the others I can still use. As I have gotten and used Disco and Amex, I realize there are benefits to having these issuers more so than the networks that they are on. Besides, there are still a lot of mom and pop businesses that do not take Disco or Amex. I encounter it all the time when I am traveling.

Re: Diversity

kdm31091 — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 18:19:59 GMT

Networks go down, on rare occasions, yes. But IMO it’s much more frequent/likely that a retailers entire credit card system goes down vs just one network. So often, network won’t make a difference.

There are instances where things can happen but in day to day life I just don’t find network diversity very important. Ymmv

Re: Diversity

imaximous — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 18:55:57 GMT

OP already said the reason for this is also shopping at Costco. So the network does matter. Visa is the only credit card they take in the stores unless you plan to shop online exclusively. Then you can use MC and Discover too.

Re: Diversity

Revelate — Tue, 11 Sep 2018 03:59:40 GMT

Individual transaction networks do go down, I've had it happen twice to me actually which admittedly is something like lightning striking twice but having the other card does help even though I didn't have the MC on me last time (but the restaurant I was at knew I was good for it heh). Admittedly the local merchant having the issue is more common as KDM suggests.

Will say though after Kroger made national headlines for kicking Visa to the curb and likely a slew of merchants are watching to see what happens there, I'm of the opinion everyone should have at least two major networks in their portfolio... I do think 4 is overkill even if I do have all 4 majors here in the US.

Re: Diversity

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Sep 2018 08:04:25 GMT

Thanks all for the great advice! After reading all of your comments I think ill stick with the cards I have for the moment and chill in the garden for a while. I may see if I can PC the Citi to a Costco card down the road when it graduates but it will be a while before that happens.

Re: Diversity

UpperNwGuy — Tue, 11 Sep 2018 12:07:45 GMT

@kdm31091 wrote:
@Medic981 wrote:
My goal at the beginning of my rebuild was to have one CC each from the four payment networks which I finally achieved last month with my Amex.
I see this a lot, but not sure I understand the reasoning, other than a "collection" standpoint. For practical use, at least in the US, there just isn't much difference. I rarely even see Disco/Amex not taken, although at smaller stores you can still have an issue occasionally. Visa/MC are one and the same in almost every situation.

And the reason Visa and MC are one and the same is that merchants don't deal directly with either Visa or MC. They deal with third-party payment processors who sell/rent the equipment, provide the communications links, and process the transactions for the merchant. In the US, the payment processors sell Visa/MC capability to the merchants as a package deal. Unless the merchant is a huge operation like Costco, it can't buy one without the other.

Re: Diversity

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Sep 2018 12:54:12 GMT

@Revelate wrote:
Individual transaction networks do go down, I've had it happen twice to me actually which admittedly is something like lightning striking twice but having the other card does help even though I didn't have the MC on me last time (but the restaurant I was at knew I was good for it heh). Admittedly the local merchant having the issue is more common as KDM suggests.

Will say though after Kroger made national headlines for kicking Visa to the curb and likely a slew of merchants are watching to see what happens there, I'm of the opinion everyone should have at least two major networks in their portfolio... I do think 4 is overkill even if I do have all 4 majors here in the US.

Yes, I think all needed diversity can be obtained with one V and one M/C from different issuers. I don't know the relative stats, but if you are worried about payment network issues you also need to be concerned about an issuer's processing failing (so say BoA can't process cards).