VISA vs Mastercard

[Roarmeister]

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@Elcid89 wrote:

Likewise for the CIBC Aerogold VISA Infinite, the Scotiabank Momentum VISA Infinite, and the TD Canada Trust First Class Travel VISA Infinite.

All have minimum lines of $5,000 with personal income of $60,000 or household income of $100,000.

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Dang, I knew I should have asked for more on the ScotiaBank Visa.  I just asked for $10k because I was a little gun shy.  Maybe I will CLI my card upwards to match my other ones. 

I agree with the others, M/C seems to be more prevelant here in Canada.  It could be my imagination but I think about 75% of the cards are M/C rather than VISA.

[distantarray]

my Local DMV refused to take Visa -_-;

[ccnewcc]

MasterCard FTW!

[CreditScholar]

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@Roarmeister wrote:

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@Elcid89 wrote:

Likewise for the CIBC Aerogold VISA Infinite, the Scotiabank Momentum VISA Infinite, and the TD Canada Trust First Class Travel VISA Infinite.

All have minimum lines of $5,000 with personal income of $60,000 or household income of $100,000.

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Dang, I knew I should have asked for more on the ScotiaBank Visa.  I just asked for $10k because I was a little gun shy.  Maybe I will CLI my card upwards to match my other ones. 

I agree with the others, M/C seems to be more prevelant here in Canada.  It could be my imagination but I think about 75% of the cards are M/C rather than VISA.

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MC seems to be more prevalent here as well. Inside the US Visa seems to be more prevalent, but that often changes once you step outside the country.

[Roarmeister]

I just found pages with real information as opposed to my gut feelings: 

I suspect the % data hasn't changed much since 2009.

http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-card-industry-facts-personal-debt-statistics-1276...

• As of yearend 2009, there were 270 million Visa credit cards and 382 million Visa debit cards in circulation in the United States. (Source: Visa.com)
• As of yearend 2009, there were 203 million MasterCard credit cards and 125 million MasterCard debit cards in circulation in the United States. (Source: MasterCard.com)
• As of yearend 2009, there were 48.9 million American Express credit cards in circulation in the United States. (Source: AmericanExpress.com)
• As of yearend 2009, there were 54.4 million Discover credit cards in circulation in the United States. (Source: Discover.com)

In Canada, in 2008, M/C had 38.7% of the market, VISA had 38.3% (and most of the banks), 17% AMEX and the remaining 8-9% shared among the other CCCs.

http://banknerd.ca/2010/09/28/visa-vs-mastercard/

[USF813]

Delta Community (I'm a member), Wings, and American Airlines CU only offer Visa. That right there should tell you it's a non-issue where acceptability is concerned. If the vast number of airline employees started having issues paying with Visa overseas, I'm sure these CUs would offer a Mastercard alternative.

[USF813]

I'd also add that I think the bigger problem for world travelers, and something I've faced in my 26 times to Amsterdam - is the lack of chip and pin for most US based credit cards. I've never been able to pay for a train ticket in Amsterdam with either credit card. I always have to pull cash out of an ATM. Other European countries are hit or miss for me, but the Netherlands - take cash!

[bluescale]

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@USF813 wrote:
I'd also add that I think the bigger problem for world travelers, and something I've faced in my 26 times to Amsterdam - is the lack of chip and pin for most US based credit cards. I've never been able to pay for a train ticket in Amsterdam with either credit card. I always have to pull cash out of an ATM. Other European countries are hit or miss for me, but the Netherlands - take cash!

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I encountered this at a number of restaurants in Paris (and to a much lesser degree, Italy) last month.  It's been a long time since I used cash as regularly as I did during the trip.

[USF813]

It's been a few years since I've been to Paris, and when I did go I don't think chip and pin was in full swing yet, so no issue using my cards. Last year in Spain no issues using US based cards either - and it's pretty cheap there. I think with the Spanish economy tanking they don't want to alienate American visitors so they make it easy for us. No issues using Visa there either.

[bostonte]

Visa Infinite = Visa Signature

It's branded as "Infinite" outside the US because the branding "Signature" was thought to be confusing to people used to things like Chip and PIN.

Same tier. Minor differences in how some countries chose to implement it, but its not some uber secret elite tier of Visa being kept from the US.