MasterCard and Visa are the two most dominate credit card companies globally, as well in Australia. But when you need to select one of the two, many will ask but which is better. To answer that you need to ask yourself what is your needs, and which card will offer you more benefits.
According to the Reserve Bank of Australia, there are as from August 2017, 16717,777 credit cards and charge card accounts in Australia. Of those cards the top four players are American Express, Diners Club, Visa and MasterCard. The last two are, however, the most important players in the credit market.
The basics – What Visa and MasterCard have to offer you?
Visa has a bigger market share than MasterCard, controlling 53% of the market as compared to MasterCard’s 31.6%, and Visa has more transactions globally compared to its rival. Otherwise, both cards are accepted similarly in nearly the same number of countries, at the same amount of merchants and have roughly the same amount of ATMs in their networks. Also, Visa and MasterCard have very similar products, as both are equally secure and offer information protection and assurance that payments will take place fast and securely.
Then, what do you look for when picking between Visa and MasterCard?
When you want to pick between the two brands, don’t. It is better to look at the specific card that Visa or MasterCard has on offer, and what features they offer, and their annual fees and interest rate charges. For example, entry-level credit cards for both brands are very similar; it is on the higher tiers that MasterCard outshines its competition with extra benefits, even though its fees are typically a bit higher. But, banks that issue either credit cards will also add on their own perks to the client. Still, Visa and MasterCard offer different luxury benefits and rewards to cardholders, but these benefits will depend on which loyalty programme the cardholder is on. For example, Visa offers exclusive benefits such as dining, travel, discount on 900-luxury hotel, and shopping discounts to their premium brands. Whereas, MasterCard has discounts on its selection of preferred hotels, and tickets to its cardholders that are part of the World Elite MasterCard.
In short, if finding out which card is better, you need to look at the actual card you are considering and then compare the credit card features of that tier group which each other.