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Visa is one of the two major financial institutions in the world. Most of the banks, in collaboration with Visa, issue credit cards to innumerable people from various parts of the world. The war between Visa and MasterCard, another major financial firm, has been going on for a number of years. Though there are a few people who believe that both these firms are on level ground, there are many others who have declared Visa a clear winner. The fact that this card has a lot of benefits to offer card holders makes it popular among people from various countries across the globe.

The primary benefit of owning a Visa credit card is that you can use in almost any retail store. Unlike most other credit cards that are not accepted globally, Visa has a global presence thereby enabling card holders to use this card even in a foreign location. The charges associated with the Visa credit card are significantly lesser than charges on American Express cards. These cards are not only accepted by retail stores, they can also be used in theaters, entertainment stores and shopping malls.

Withdrawing money from the card when you need it the most becomes a big problem if you don’t have an ATM of the issuing bank in the vicinity. However, if you have a Visa credit card you need not worry about this problem because most of the ATMs, irrespective of the banks that run it, accept Visa cards and allow card holders to use the ATM to withdraw funds on the card or perform other transactions without charging any overhead costs.

Most of the banks that issue credit cards in collaboration with Visa waive off the foreign transaction charges on the card. Most of the other cards charge 3% per foreign transaction thereby increasing the debt of the card holder further. With the elimination of these charges on the Visa card, customers can save a significant amount of money.

There are a number of other beneficial features that Visa credit cards offer such as lost luggage assistance, roadside dispatch, emergency card replacement, travel accident insurance and many more. Though all of them are not available on every Visa card, they definitely carry a few of these features. The zero liability protection offered  by Visa card ensures that the card holder is well protected in case the card is lost or stolen and used by the thieves for various purchases.