Any advantage to Visa over Mastercard?

[designated_knitter]

I view these cards as interchangeable...

When I applied for my Navy cc, they gave me a choice between Visa or Mastercard -- I randomly chose Mastercard since I don't have many of those in my wallet...

Is there any downside to one versus the other?

Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Not really. VISA has marginally higher acceptance and they offer different benefits that hardly anyone uses which are always being nerfed these days anyway. It is advantageous to have at least one VISA and one MasterCard in case of system issues or cases like Costco where a company may only take one of the companies. 

[Anonymous]

I think you need to do MasterCard for the plastiq. 

[MrT_521]

Acceptance rates between Visa and Mastercard are pretty much the same. The only exception I can think of is Costco, who take only Visa.

One advantage of Mastercard is that you'll generally get a slightly better exchange rate when using it for purchases in foreign currencies. I am an expat living in Africa, and the difference here is generally around 0.5%. It's interesting in that I can pay with my Capital One Quicksilver (Mastercard) with 1.5% cash back, and end up with the same net effect as when I use my SDFCU Premium Cash Back+ (Visa) with 2% cash back. Of course YMMV, but there has been research to back this up.

[coldfusion]

One has to read the T&C for each individual card carefully especially now with all of the benefit nerfing as of Feb 1 but the Mastercard default for cellphone warranty coverage has been more generous than Visa's.  This definitely was the case between the NFCU GoRewards Mastercard vs the Visa.

[Anonymous]

A handful of years ago (maybe 6-8) I shopped at a Sam's Club, got to the register with $300 of groceries and couldn't pay because they didn't take Visa.  I thought that was absurd and had to walk out with nothing, an hour of my life wasted.  I don't know that I've been back since as a result and don't know if they've changed that.

[fiddycal]

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@Anonymous wrote:

A handful of years ago (maybe 6-8) I shopped at a Sam's Club, got to the register with $300 of groceries and couldn't pay because they didn't take Visa.  I thought that was absurd and had to walk out with nothing, an hour of my life wasted.  I don't know that I've been back since as a result and don't know if they've changed that.

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They do indeed take Visa, MC, and even Amex credit cards now. I believe at one point they only accepted Discover.

[Aim_High]

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@designated_knitter wrote:

I view these cards (Mastercard vs Visa) as interchangeable...

Is there any downside to one versus the other?

Echoing the advise upthread, they pretty much are interchangeable.  They both have a higher worldwide acceptance rate than either American Express or Discover network cards.  The Visa network history is a little older (origin dates to 1958 versus 1966.)  Visa is slightly larger than Mastercard.  (In 2019, Visa generated $23 Billion in revenues with payment volume of $8.8 Trillion versus Mastercard's $16.9 Billion revenues and $6.5 Trillion in payment volume.)

Card benefits by tier can vary depending on what the lender elects for the card, and that applies for both Visa and Mastercard.  My personal opinion is that Visa offers a better benefits package on Signature and Infinite than Mastercard does on World and World Elite, but that's subjective.

My wallet is heavily Visa-weighted but that has never been a problem for me.  I've never had a retailer say they won't or can't take Visa but will take a Mastercard, or vise versa. 

[kdm31091]

They are interchangeable 99% of the time domestically. The only major exception I can think of is Costco.

[Anonymous]

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@MrT_521 wrote:

One advantage of Mastercard is that you'll generally get a slightly better exchange rate when using it for purchases in foreign currencies. I am an expat living in Africa, and the difference here is generally around 0.5%. It's interesting in that I can pay with my Capital One Quicksilver (Mastercard) with 1.5% cash back, and end up with the same net effect as when I use my SDFCU Premium Cash Back+ (Visa) with 2% cash back. Of course YMMV, but there has been research to back this up.

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Yes, lots of research on this.  A few DP suggesting that transactions in China and Japan MIGHT be slightly better with Visa, but the vast majority of the time Mastercard comes out somewhat ahead.  I've seen numbers between 0.1 and 1%, so @MrT_521 0.5% certainly fits in!

Obviously, for choosing for foreign transactions this isn't going to be the major factor, prefer a Visa with significantly better rewards or no FTF over a MC with poor rewards or FTF, as the exchange difference will be dwarfed by those!