There is no evidence of banks switching from Visa to Mastercard in large numbers, though they may occasionally switch single cards over. Seven of the top 10 banks in the U.S. offer both Visa cards and cards on the Mastercard network.
In the U.S., one recent example of a bank switching credit cards from Visa to Mastercard is Capital One, though this only applied to some of their credit card offers. In addition, there have been several recent cases in the U.K., where banks like Santander and First Direct switched over their debit cards to the Mastercard network.
Why a Bank Might Switch from Visa to Mastercard
If your bank switched a card from Visa to Mastercard, it was likely because they felt the features and benefits of Mastercard were better than those of Visa. For example, the issuer might take into consideration processing fees or network-level benefits like travel insurance or purchase protection.
Keep in mind that if your bank switches your credit or debit card from Visa to Mastercard and it changes the terms of your card in any way, they will be required to notify you at least 45 days in advance. But in some cases, the terms and features of the card won’t change at all, and the decision may have been purely for issuer-level interests like getting lower processing fees.
Overall, the differences between Visa and Mastercard are relatively small, but you can learn more about how the two networks compare on WalletHub.
This answer was first published on 01/09/23. For the most current information about a financial product, you should always check and confirm accuracy with the offering financial institution. Editorial and user-generated content is not provided, reviewed or endorsed by any company.
