What Is a Visa Card?

A Visa card is a payment card that uses the Visa network and is branded with a Visa logo. The San Francisco-based company began with just credit cards but later expanded to include debit, prepaid, and gift cards. A𒁃lthough Visa cards bear Visa's name and logo, they are not issued by Visa but instead by partner financial institutions and banks.

How Visa Cards Work

澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Visa is♌ a prominent processing netꦑwork whereby its cards are accepted by businesses in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. Other major 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:payment processing networks include 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Mastercard, 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:American Express, and Discover.

Financial institutions typically partner with a single processing network provider, such as Visa, for all of their payment card products. Each issuer sets its own 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:terms and conditions for the Visa cards it offers and decides on the customers to whom it will offer them. Visa cards are available to individual and business customers through various financial institution partnerships.

Visa also partners with merchants through varying types of service agreements. Merchants that accept Visa cards pay Visa Inc. a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:transaction fee each time a customer uses their Visa card.

All Visa cards come with a unique 16-digit number printed or embossed on the front and an embedded 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:microchip intended to provide the cardholder with additional protection against fraud. There's also a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:magnetic stripe on the back, with a panel for the cardholder's signature and a three-digit 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:validation code.

Types of Visa Cards

Several different types of payment cards ♊are branded with the Visa logo and use the Visa payment processing network: credit cards, debit cards, prepaid cards, and gift cards. Here is how each of t🐟hem works.

Visa Credit Cards

Banks and other financial institutions issue Visa credit cards to consumers whom they deem creditworthy based on their 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:credit report and other information. Like other types of 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:credit cards, Visa credit cards provide cardholders with convenience and security and can be used at merchants and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:automated teller machines (ATMs) worldwide.

Depending on the particular card and issuer, some Visa cards have features such as 澳�🎃�洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:0% introductory annual percentage rates (APRs), cashback rewards, and unique benefits when shopping with a particular retailer. All Visa credit cards come with the Visa Zero Liability Policy, which reduces cardholders' liability for unauthorized transactions to $0. Under federal law, their liability is generally limited to $50.

The card's interest rate is determined by the card issuer, who may also charge various fees, including the following:

• Annual fees
• Foreign transaction fees
• Cash advance fees
• Balance transfer fees
• Late payment fees
  

Visa Debit Cards

Visa 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:debit cards are linked to a cardholder's bank account, typically a checking account. Like a credit card, they can be used to make purchases at retailers and perform routine bank transactions at a branch or through an ATM. Unlike credit cards, debit cards do not extend credit but are limited to the amount of money in the cardholder's 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:bank account.

As with Visa credit cards, Visa debit cards come with the Visa Zero Liability Policy for unauthorized transactions.

Visa Prepaid Cards

澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Prepaid cards work like debit cards but are not associated with a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:bank account. Instead, they come loaded with a specific amount of money that acts as a credit limit. This means the cardholder can’t spend more than the amount loaded onto the card. Visa's prepaid cards can be used anywhere Visa is accepted and can be reloaded for future use.

In addition to its all-purpose prepaid cards, Visa has several types☂ of specialized prepaid cards. Those include:

Payroll Cards

Rather than issuing their employees checks or making direct deposits into their 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:bank accounts, employers can pay them by regularly loading their pay onto a Visa payroll card, which works like any other prepaid card.

Government Payment Cards

Some states use these cards to pay monthly unemployment benefits. The federal government also used them to distribute benefits as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, 🐟and Economic Security Act♔ (CARES Act).

Visa Gift Cards

澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Gift cards with the Visa logo are preloaded with a specific amount like a prepaid card and can be used wherever Visa is accepted. The 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:principal difference between them and prepaid cards is that gift cards can't be reloaded.

The Bottom Line

Visa is a major payment card processing network, and cards bearing its logo are widely accepted world🔴wide. Whatever type of card a consumer might be looking for, a Visa-affiliated issuer probably offers it.