topic Re: Visa Signature - what's the hype? in Credit Cards

Visa Signature - what's the hype?

QueenBeeOC — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 04:33:14 GMT

I get that the more prestigious cards are Visa Signatures - but I am not sure what's the hype?!

Re: Visa Signature - what's the hype?

killer_queen229 — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 04:44:27 GMT

I bet the credit limit is one thing and I'm
Sure there are good benefits with it as well.. I know visa in general and many other card issuers do offer decent benefits.

Re: Visa Signature - what's the hype?

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 04:45:47 GMT

@QueenBeeOC wrote:
I get that the more prestigious cards are Visa Signatures - but I am not sure what's the hype?!

They are really not that prestigious, sig cards are very common these days. But they have a set of extra benefits, see:

https://usa.visa.com/visasignature/index.jsp?gclid=CNfRiK-g67sCFUgS7Aod9DAAXg

Now the conditions allow for not all signature cards to provide all these benefits, and many issuers provide some of them on non-sig cards. So not clear cut!

I have NEVER used any of my signature benefits, but apparently others do. So, it may or may not be useful to you...

Re: Visa Signature - what's the hype?

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 04:47:03 GMT

@QueenBeeOC wrote:
I get that the more prestigious cards are Visa Signatures - but I am not sure what's the hype?!

Here is a list of the benefits: http://usa.visa.com/personal/visa-signature/benefits/index.jsp

Re: Visa Signature - what's the hype?

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 04:47:15 GMT

@killer_queen229 wrote:
I bet the credit limit is one thing and I'm
Sure there are good benefits with it as well.. I know visa in general and many other card issuers do offer decent benefits.

Signature/World MC used to require CLs with a minimum of $5K (which in the real world isn't very high or unusual) but we've seen several instances of much lower limits, $2k or less, so REALLY nothing special.

Re: Visa Signature - what's the hype?

FinStar — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 04:52:01 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@killer_queen229 wrote:
I bet the credit limit is one thing and I'm
Sure there are good benefits with it as well.. I know visa in general and many other card issuers do offer decent benefits.
Signature/World MC used to require CLs with a minimum of $5K (which in the real world isn't very high or unusual) but we've seen several instances of much lower limits, $2k or less, so REALLY nothing special.

Right. Other than some of the Signature perks offered by Visa (or some extras by the issuer), the other only intangible benefit is the NPSL feature for some CCs.

Re: Visa Signature - what's the hype?

killer_queen229 — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 04:56:12 GMT

That's good to know! I don't know if my Freedom is just Visa or Visa Signature and the emails I've gotten twice from Chase didn't indicate which one.

Re: Visa Signature - what's the hype?

FinStar — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 05:01:04 GMT

@killer_queen229 wrote:
That's good to know! I don't know if my Freedom is just Visa or Visa Signature and the emails I've gotten twice from Chase didn't indicate which one.

Yours will likely be the Platinum version. Chase Visa Signature CLs typically start at $5K.

Re: Visa Signature - what's the hype?

sailor_mercury — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 05:04:29 GMT

@FinStar wrote:
@killer_queen229 wrote:
That's good to know! I don't know if my Freedom is just Visa or Visa Signature and the emails I've gotten twice from Chase didn't indicate which one.
Yours will likely be the Platinum version. Chase Visa Signature CLs typically start at $5K.

They will also say Signature under the VISA logo on the front right bottom corner of the card.

Re: Visa Signature - what's the hype?

killer_queen229 — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 05:06:46 GMT

Yes I know signature cards say that but Chase never indicated which Visa and what is Platinum?

Re: Visa Signature - what's the hype?

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 05:34:38 GMT

@killer_queen229 wrote:
Yes I know signature cards say that but Chase never indicated which Visa and what is Platinum?

Platinum is the level below signature and so is the "standard" In the (very) old days, there were standard cards, gold cards and platinum cards. Now for most issuers there are only two types of Visa, platinum and signature.

Re: Visa Signature - what's the hype?

FinStar — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 06:37:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@killer_queen229 wrote:
Yes I know signature cards say that but Chase never indicated which Visa and what is Platinum?
Platinum is the level below signature and so is the "standard" In the (very) old days, there were standard cards, gold cards and platinum cards. Now for most issuers there are only two types of Visa, platinum and signature.

OP - if your CL is $3K with Freedom, it is just a Platinum level CC.

And of course, there are still some old-fashioned lenders and CUs who still offer "Classic" and "Gold". How times have changed!

Re: Visa Signature - what's the hype?

knhorn — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 09:48:15 GMT

Try for the Visa Infinite or World Elite Mastercard. $25k minimums on those guys.

Re: Visa Signature - what's the hype?

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 10:02:57 GMT

@knhorn, the world elite MasterCard can be issued for as low as 2k CL.

Visa infinite is the international / overseas version of visa signature, plus and minus some benefits.

But, visa infinite (or signature if you want to call it that) and world elite MasterCard (previously known as world insignia) are a lot more prestigious overseas. In certain countries, cards with those tiers means that it has a >=25k CL, or that the individual has >=250k personal income, etc.

In the USA however, there's no such distinctions, and visa signature or world elite mastercard means **bleep**. It's not going to impress any chicks.

Visa however seems to be rolling out a new higher end tier sometime soon. MasterCard shouldn't be lagging too far behind either.

Re: Visa Signature - what's the hype?

mxp114 — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 11:06:47 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@knhorn, the world elite MasterCard can be issued for as low as 2k CL.

Visa infinite is the international / overseas version of visa signature, plus and minus some benefits.

But, visa infinite (or signature if you want to call it that) and world elite MasterCard (previously known as world insignia) are a lot more prestigious overseas. In certain countries, cards with those tiers means that it has a >=25k CL, or that the individual has >=250k personal income, etc.

In the USA however, there's no such distinctions, and visa signature or world elite mastercard means **bleep**. It's not going to impress any chicks.

Visa however seems to be rolling out a new higher end tier sometime soon. MasterCard shouldn't be lagging too far behind either.

World Elite MasterCard can be issued at $500, specifically Capital One

Visa Infinite is a step above Visa Signature, it is not the same product offering.

World Signia MasterCard was the top tier MasterCard product for the European market however as of Oct 2011, MasterCard has decided to use a single branding for the top card and went with World Elite MasterCard.

Yeah, abroad they mean something but the US market? Nada lol

MasterCard is more likely to launch a new tier, as indicated by the dilution and elimination of the best benefits of the World Elite product.

Re: Visa Signature - what's the hype?

takeshi74 — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 14:32:24 GMT

@QueenBeeOC wrote:
I get that the more prestigious cards are Visa Signatures - but I am not sure what's the hype?!

I wouldn't use the word "prestigious" but I don't associate prestige with any card. A card is just a card and any respect or status that I have earned has nothing to do with any credit cards. Even so I'm not sure that others who do think that some cards are prestigious would refer to Signatures as such. Signature is a higher tier but they're fairly ubiquitous cards these days. As stated earlier, benefits of Signature are all on Visa's site.

Re: Visa Signature - what's the hype?

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 17:50:38 GMT

The hype. For a traveler theire may be some benefit but overall I do not utilize the enhanced benefit level. Glad I have it when I do travel but for general purposes not used. Have Visa Signature and World Elite Mastercards and find when card issuers are giving such cards to $500CL's I wonder about the mystic?

Re: Visa Signature - what's the hype?

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 18:21:27 GMT

I have also heard that some merchants have to pay a higher fee for accepting these signature cards

From: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Merchant-Swipe-Fees/td-p/2196555/page/3

This is also why a number of issuers are pushing Visa Signature/MC World cards to almost everyone. They get higher swipe fees, presumably more than offsetting the increased cost of the benefits.

Re: Visa Signature - what's the hype?

sillykitty1 — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 18:40:55 GMT

Visa Signature and WMC definitely have more value than “prestige”. For traveling, the added benefits are huge.

Auto Rental CDW – This is a real money savings for international car rentals. Chase just started including Ireland, Israel & Jamaica. I’ll save about $450 on one trip to Ireland alone.

Trip Cancellation/Interruption – Trip insurance would cost me about $150 for an average vacation I take.

Trip Delay – Meals, lodging etc. covered for any overnight delay. As a frequent traveler, I get stranded over night at least once per year.

Lost Luggage/Baggage Delay - $100/day to cover the purchase of essentials. This is separate from any airline reimbursement.

Re: Visa Signature - what's the hype?

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 18:48:35 GMT

@sillykitty1 wrote:
Visa Signature and WMC definitely have more value than “prestige”. For traveling, the added benefits are huge.

Auto Rental CDW – This is a real money savings for international car rentals. Chase just started including Ireland, Israel & Jamaica. I’ll save about $450 on one trip to Ireland alone.

Trip Cancellation/Interruption – Trip insurance would cost me about $150 for an average vacation I take.

Trip Delay – Meals, lodging etc. covered for any overnight delay. As a frequent traveler, I get stranded over night at least once per year.

Lost Luggage/Baggage Delay - $100/day to cover the purchase of essentials. This is separate from any airline reimbursement.

The first should be available on standard cards as well (http://usa.visa.com/personal/cards/benefits/) but I can see the others might be useful (although some of these are also on lower level cards). The complaint from some has been it is very hard to actually claim on some of these, as compared to say Amex benefits. But I haven't done that so don't know!