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The MasterCard services are now one of the most essential services in the credit card sector. In today`s fast homogenizing world, connectivity means everything. MasterCard provides this connectivity. However, MasterCard attained its fame because it managed to tap into the very core of the human psyche - need and desire.
Need and desire are two diametrically opposing concepts. They represent two different aspects of existence. What one desires is not necessarily what one needs. Companies like MasterCard help blur the distinction between these two factors. For the layman, possessing a MasterCard represents a way to turn dreams into realities. Easily available cash is a way of achieving those dreams. Credit card companies all over the world exist for this purpose alone. While different people use credit cards for different purposes, the most fundamental reason for its use is to access money anytime, anywhere. By providing a user with money at demand, credit card companies have helped foster a false perception of affordability. A company like MasterCard only attempts to further this already existing complex.
MasterCard has survived and beaten its competitors because of its single-minded commitment to providing connectivity. Started as a joint venture by a collection of banks in California, the MasterCard was expected to match up to its competition - the Visa Card.
In function, the two cards are similar. Their only differences pertain to stories of their origin and a marginal difference in the places they have managed to reach. The MasterCard was originally intended to be a common access card provided to customers of the various California banks. What began as a purely American customer base soon became more global in its outreach. The Company then changed the brand name to MasterCard worldwide as a mark of its new ventures.
Today, financial institutions that use the MasterCard services provide additional benefits to users. The benefits are usually in the form of rewards and cash waivers on purchases made with the card. However, these are specified or regulated by MasterCard. Each bank or credit card Company issuing the MasterCard is at liberty to introduce its own offers and schemes.
The MasterCard offers cards for credit and debit accounts. Owing to its extensive reach and services, the management of the Company is an important aspect of its success. Each Bank that uses the MasterCard includes the company amongst its shareholders. In this way, the Parent company has several tie-ups the world over.
