"Necessity" of carrying a MasterCard?

[AverageJoesCredit]

One should always carry a MC, as it is the MASTER card

[HeavenOhio]

 @SouthJamaica wrote:

A few weeks ago I was attempting to add payment methods to a utility of which I am a present customer, and was reminded that although it accepts Mastercard, Discover, and Amex, it does not accept Visa. It's your prerogative to disbelieve me if you choose, but I'm not going to disclose what utility I use.

Of course, in SJ's example, the MasterCard wouldn't need to be in his wallet.

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@xXIDaShizIXx wrote
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Oh sure, local gas station, attorney's office, local court, even our local auto shop. But then again, I live in a rural area.

In this case, I'd make sure I carried the MasterCard because of the gas station. I'd hope not to unexpectedly encounter the attorney or court.

I have six cards: two MasterCards, three Visas, and an AMEX. And my go-to cards are a MasterCard and the AMEX. So I default into having both a MC and Visa with me. If my go-to cards change, I'll still drag along one of each simply because I can. I feel no great need to add Discover simply to have all four networks represented.

[UpperNwGuy]

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@xXIDaShizIXx wrote:

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@UpperNwGuy wrote:

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@xXIDaShizIXx wrote:

I pay my rent and (when I had a payment) paid for my furniture with a mastercard. Some places will only take mastercard or visa. I think having one of each cannot hurt. You will often run into issues with Discover and Mastercard, especially in smaller locations.

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Do you have a recent example?

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Oh sure, local gas station, attorney's office, local court, even our local auto shop. But then again, I live in a rural area.

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I'm guessing that these places will also take the other card if pressed.  The reason I say that is that payment processor (who is a middleman between merchants and the big networks) usually provides Visa and MasterCard as a combined capability to merchants, attorneys, and government entities.

[SouthJamaica]

Oh, you mean my ACTUAL wallet Almost nothing goes in there I'm not a big spender

[pizza1]

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@kdm31091 wrote:

I think in general people overstress about this. There is no need to have a card from every network. If there isn't a card in a network that has benefits that you will actually use, then don't keep it just because of network.

Remember that the general public does not think about these things much and somehow gets through life just fine. I think it's smart to have a couple networks available to you in the (very rare) chance that one network goes down, but don't stress about having all 4.

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LOL! For some reason this just was funny to me this morning! 

[imaximous]

It was already mentioned before, but I also travel to Canada and Costco only takes MC unless you use a debit card. I don't buy anything with a debit card, so it's definitely a necessity in my case.
In the States, I use the MC for special events or early acces only targeted to MC customers, like tickets, etc.
There's also the added benefits like price protection that seems to be a standard with MC, and I've actually used. I only have 2 MCs and both have it. Most of my Visa cards don't.

[Anonymous]

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@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
One should always carry a MC, as it is the MASTER card

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They're a lot more experienced than those Apprentice cards! 

[Anonymous]

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@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
One should always carry a MC, as it is the MASTER card

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AJC ... to the corner with you! Really ...

[Anonymous]

imaximous ... many years back there was less cross over in networks (many moons ago) and some of us still remember those days and think we need to cover all the bases with the various networks. In the really old days Spain was big on Maestro (a MasterCard affiliate). Likely a psychological hold over concept (in my case anyway). As a PS ... I was always worried one of the networks would go down and in reality I do not ever recall a total network failure.

[Anonymous]

Can't go wrong with VISA. I carry all in my wallet but Discover.