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CREATION OF THE VISA
CREDIT CARD AND THE VISA PROTOCOL
There are several brands
of cards available in the market. One of
the most popular brands of them all is
the “Visa Credit Card”. Those debit
cards which have the visa logo on them
are not the same as “Visa Credit Cards”.
The Visa on the debit cards stand for
“Visa International Service Association”
situated in San Francisco.
The “Visa Credit Card”
was launched in the year 1976. Its name
is based on “BankAmericaCard” issued by
the “Bank of America”. This was the
predecessor of the “Visa Credit Card”.
The gold logo on the card represents the
colour of the California Hills and the
blue logo represents the sky.
An association of the
various banks like Toronto – Dominion
Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Nova
and the Canadian Imperial Bank of
Commerce issue the “Visa Credit Cards”
as Chargex. The French Visa even today
uses the logo of the “BankAmericaCard”.
It was known as “Carte Bleue” meaning
blue card in France. BarclayCard was the
only authorised bank to issue the card.
Three different types of
Visa Cards exist. Those debit cards,
which have the visa logo on them. The
Credit Cards with the visa logo on them.
There are also prepaid cards that are
paid using cash accounts.
Two protocols were
developed so that the consumer services
are standardized. The “Visa
International Association” made the
credit and debit protocols based on the
type of cards marketed by them.
The “Visa Credit Card”
utilizes the credit protocols. The cards
will be useful at the bank ATM’s or the
POS terminal’s. On the back side, the
card holder’s signature is printed for
identification. The Credit protocol is
used by the Visa Credit Card holders
though it is marketed as debit cards or
prepaid cards. This is because of the
Visa logo that is printed on the front
side of the card.
Many card holders are
confused by the words debit and credit.
The words are not the same as their
dictionary meaning. The debit cards can
also be used for transactions that
require credit. There is a myth that
credit cards can be used only for loans
and debit cards only for saving accounts
only. This is absolutely false. The
naming conventions are used because of
the backend methods that are used to
handle them.
The following rules are
included by the associations for
developing the “Visa Credit Cards”:
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The card holders are required to
sign a receipt after each
transaction so that their card is
not misused even if the card holder
loses it.
-
It explains the reasons for a bank
to deny a transaction. It also
explains how banks should co-operate
to prevent fraud.
-
It ensures some standard protection
from false identification and fraud.
The Visa Company was
founded by Dee Hock. It is now
universally accepted. But, to avoid
potential conflicts the consumers should
be aware of the rules before utilizing
their credit cards.
The second biggest credit
card network is the “MasterCard”. |
