Pennywise
Visa
by: Sahil | last updated: November 12, 2009
Category: Standard Credit Cards | Tags: Visa, Visa credit cards, popular credit cards
Category: Standard Credit Cards | Tags: Visa, Visa credit cards, popular credit cards
Visa Inc. which is commonly referred to as VISA (Visa International Service Association) is a multinational corporation based in California, USA. The company controls and operates the world’s largest electronic payment network. It is a common misconception that the main objective of the company is to issue credit cards to its consumers. Visa issues credit cards with the help of its clients which are financial institutions or banks.
Governments in many countries have switched to digital currency instead of checks since it increases efficiency and reduces operating time. Armed with one of the worlds most advanced processing network, the company boasts of handling around 10,000 transactions per second.
Visa also provides financial instruments such as debit cards and pre-paid cards along with issuing credit cards through its issuing members. In addition to these services, Visa also sets the rules for certain procedures regarding the security of the credit card holder. Furthermore it also lays out the rules for how banks may deny a transaction, and cooperate for fraud prevention.
One important rule that is laid down by Visa is that no merchant who accepts a Visa may levy a surcharge, minimum payment limit, or a maximum purchase for any Visa related transaction. However some countries such as Australia and U.K have banned the no-surcharge rule and retailers can apply surcharges on Visa as well as on any other credit card transaction.
There are ten states in the United States where a surcharge by retailers is forbidden by law. These states include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma and Texas. However, in Britain, this surcharge may not surpass the fee charged by the issuer of the credit card to the merchant, nor are merchants required to charge singular prices for credit card transactions.
Products offered by Visa also include solutions for businesses including small entities and larger corporations. Funds can be transferred quickly from one account to another using the Visas Money Transfer services. Visa has also introduced the chip technology or smart cards that provide added security to merchants as well as consumers. Other services include Mobile payments and ecommerce services.
There are around 1.7 billion Visa cards being used worldwide with more than 16,000 financial institutions as Visas customers. With over 29 million merchant outlets and 1.5 million ATMs world wide, Visa is one of the most trusted companies in the field of global financial transactions.
The history of Visa can be dated back to 1958 when Bank of America launched the BankAmericard with the innovative revolving credit scheme. After incorporating as national BankAmericard (NBI) in the 1970s it launched its first electronic authorization system which was a precursor to VisaNet. Now Visa has become a household name and its products are used everywhere around the world by individuals as well as by other business entities.
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