Do you have one from each of the Big Four?

grillandwinemaster · ‎10-26-2016

3 MasterCard

1 Discover

No visa or Amex. I'll be shooting for Chase Freedom ( visa) this coming spring. Amex in 2021 when my last baddies fall off. Having all 4 networks is just for kicks and personal goals, nothing else.

Current Scores 3/2016 Equifax 676 Transunion 697 Experian 648 Goal Scores: 720's accross the board. Gardening Goal: 3/2017

iced · ‎10-26-2016

I have two Visas (both Chase) and two MCs (one Citi, one Barclays). I can't imagine a scenario where I would need anything except a Visa or MC.

Anonymous · ‎10-26-2016

Only Big 4 That MATTAH!!!

1. credit One

2 First Premier

3. Verve

4. Surge

Kidding. I have one discover, too many Visas, Several MC, and 2 amex. If one was super worried about network acceptance secured and debit cards cover all of those. I dont care about it much anymore, as costco accpts more payments, sams club offered me credit, and I dont use plastiq enough to worry about .5% by not using the right MC/AMEX they are promoting It seems that checking debit accounts lean toward visas over MC, but Altura CU in So Cal is a MC debit.

kdm31091 · ‎10-26-2016

I think network diversity is good to a point but it's not necessary to have a card from each network just for the sake of it. Visa and MasterCard are interchangeable 99 percent of the time.

grillandwinemaster · ‎10-26-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
Only Big 4 That MATTAH!!!
1. credit One
2 First Premier
3. Verve
4. Surge

Kidding. I have one discover, too many Visas, Several MC, and 2 amex. If one was super worried about network acceptance secured and debit cards cover all of those. I dont care about it much anymore, as costco accpts more payments, sams club offered me credit, and I dont use plastiq enough to worry about .5% by not using the right MC/AMEX they are promoting It seems that checking debit accounts lean toward visas over MC, but Altura CU in So Cal is a MC debit.

Hey Ford Guy, your a member of Altura? You don't here much about them. What's your experience with them so far?

Current Scores 3/2016 Equifax 676 Transunion 697 Experian 648 Goal Scores: 720's accross the board. Gardening Goal: 3/2017

longtimelurker · ‎10-26-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
Card network diversity matters because networks sometimes go down and you probably still want to use a card. Yes, I have at least one of each, although two of four is probably enough.

Mmmm, wonder what the risk really is. Personally (and I've used cards for over 30 years) I can't recall a single time when a merchant said something like "Oh, VIsa is down, can you use a different card." Whereas I have encounted multiple cases where the merchant's interface was down so they couldn't accept any cards.

Now there are places where certain networks are not accepted (usually Amex or Discover, but in a few cases like Costco, one of V/MC)

But network going down? I certainly wouldn't based app decisions on that concern!

galahad15 · ‎10-26-2016

I have all of the above. My own personal card network preferences are MC and Amex over VISA and Discover, simply b/c IME, over the course of the past 17+ years I have had significantly better credit card offers and terms from MC and Amex cards, vs. VISA and Discover cards. 3 cards I formerly had (now closed with balances or just closed) that I considered the best cards I ever had (i.e., all within 5.xx% APR range, one of them at a fixed-APR) were all MCs. Of course YMMV on an individual basis.