| >Visa the company here doesn't actually function as a credit card like in the U.S., rather it's directly connected to your bank account People get these concepts confused a lot. Visa is a payment processor - that is, a company that facilitates electronic payments. Different "payment types" (credit, debit, gift card) can use the Visa network. Visa, the company, does not issue any credit cards or debit cards directly themselves, they only make agreements with other financial institutions who issue cards that use the Visa network to process payments. So your debit card is issued by your bank and uses the Visa network to transfer funds. Visa debit cards are also extremely common here in the US as well. MasterCard is like Visa in it's just a payment processor, it doesn't issue cards itself. American Express and Discover, however, are both payment processors and issuing banks, they issue credit and debit cards themselves. It gets more complicated because other financial institutions issue credit cards that use the American Express payment network. So because of all this I've had a debt card that switched from Visa to a MasterCard when the bank's agreement with Visa expired and they got a better deal with MasterCard. I also had a credit card that switched from using the American Express network to the Visa network. |