Payment system - a community of methods and tools used for money transfers, settlements and regulation of debt obligations between participants in economic turnover. In many countries, they differ significantly from each other due to the diverse positions in the levels of economic development and the specifics of banking legislation.
Varieties of payment systems
All payment systems are divided into two types: international and local.
- The first type includes Visa and MasterCard, Diners Club and American Express.
- The second type is represented by Sbercard (cards are accepted only at Sberbank and in partner organizations), Union Card, NPS and others.
The higher the status of the settlement organization, the more places its products are accepted. Typically, the type of payment system does not affect the cardholder’s additional expenses. So, Visa and Mastercard - what to choose?
Visa payment system
Visa International Service Association is the leading payment system in the world, based on the dollar, so all currency conversion operations go through it. Priority in the work of this company is given to the development of the credit card market. The trade turnover is approximately 4.8 trillion dollars a year. This system is listed in 30 million trade and service enterprises in more than 200 countries. It is served by one million ATMs worldwide. The number of institutions that are members of the system, in total, exceeds the limit of 20 thousand units. Visa owns more than 50% of the turnover of funds of payment organizations around the world. The number of cards issued is around 2 billion. In Western countries, POS-terminals are located in almost all major stores or restaurants. Carrying a Visa card with credit funds or with a non-zero debit account, everyone can pay for goods and services in a non-cash way, of course, subject to the availability of banking equipment of the required level. Advantages of the system:
- access to money around the clock anywhere in the world, as well as via the Internet;
- the ability to transport currency across the border without undergoing the procedure of customs declaration;
- instant, free of commission, debiting funds from the card (for this it is necessary to carry out settlements on the POS terminal) worldwide;
- the ability to transfer certain amounts to various accounts, as well as many other services.
Visa in the Russian banking services market
Over the past ten years, the Visa service market in Russia has been one of the most dynamic. Many employees of enterprises and organizations have salary cards , and the form of cashless payments is becoming more acceptable and desirable. Today it is almost impossible to imagine any large supermarket or a gas station in the Russian Federation without a POS terminal capable of accepting payment means of this company for non-cash payment.
MasterCard payment system
MasterCard International is an international payment system that brings together more than twenty thousand financial institutions in more than two hundred countries. The main objectives of the company:
- servicing the estimated needs of individuals as well as legal entities;
- implementation of card issuing programs that are issued under the brands MasterCard, Maestro and Cirrus.
The priority area of development at the present stage is electronic payments on the Internet.
In 1966, several banks in the United States signed an agreement whose goal was to create the Interbank Card Association. By 1968, the company began cooperation with the Eurocard payment system. The name MasterCard was approved only in 1979. In 1980, this organization took a leading position in the global market - the number of cards issued reached 55 million. By 2006, the system was recognized as one of the most efficient and reliable. More than 25% of the world's bank cards belong to this company. Now in MasterCard more than 23 billion transactions are carried out annually.
There is a special service for card users - the MasterCard FAVORITES mobile application - the phone allows you to view relevant information.
MasterCard system in Russia
The use of MasterCard in the Russian Federation is becoming more intensive every year. Russia is considered a promising state for expanding the functionality and development of this payment system. Over the past few years, MasterCard no longer has a significant separation from the leading company in the cashless payments sector - Visa. 38.5% of plastic cards in the Russian market belong to MasterCard. Their total number is about 27 million copies. Sberbank, TrasCreditBank, MasterBank and Russian Standard cooperate with MasterCard.
MasterCard and electronic payments
In 2013, the amount of online payments in the MasterCard system increased by 25%. The number of users who expressed their intention to purchase cards for online payment has also increased. The range of services provided in this industry is actively developing. The company's management intends to create its own service (PayPass Wallet) as an electronic wallet. Its implementation is only planned so far, but on many Internet resources it has already been announced that it intends to connect payment for sites using this type of calculation.
How to get a bank card of an international payment system
The method of obtaining Visa and MasterCard is quite simple:
- apply to any of the banks in the world that supports this system;
- if you have identification documents (usually a passport), conclude an agreement on the provision of services.
As for the cards themselves, they can be either debit or credit.
The first type is those on which you can only use the amount transferred to them. In a situation where the funds on the card have run out, they must be transferred to your account for further consumption of the services offered by the system. At the same time, there are cash limits, which are problematic to increase.
Credit cards are more beneficial to use - all payments are covered using a certain amount issued by the bank. It is only necessary to repay the debt before the deadline and then the credit money is accumulated in the account again. Most cards in Russia are debit cards, unless otherwise specified in the contract.
Settlement in the network
Not all international debit cards can be used to pay for services and purchases on the Internet. For a Visa card system, it is Visa Gold, Visa Classic and higher, or specially created for the Visa Internet network, which is an analog of Visa Classic. Using a Visa Electron card, you can withdraw money in terminals, but payments on the Internet are not available if there is no CVV2 on it. A VISA Virtual card has also been developed specifically designed for transactions on the network and in order to increase user confidence in commerce through the network.
For MasterCard payment systems, when calculating online, MasterCard Standart and higher are suitable. A Master Card Maestro (debit) card, similar to Visa Electron, is used only for offline transactions (it does not have CVC2).
If Visa Electron or Maestro is designated as one of the deposit / withdrawal methods on the sites, then in this case it refers to payments using various foreign electronic payment systems similar to Moneybookers, or to cards issued by certain banks in the West (with
CVV2 or CVC2).
Visa and Mastercard system in Russia - current situation
In the course of the situation in Ukraine on March 21, 2014, some Russian banks were sanctioned by some systems (in particular, Visa and Mastercard). Cards ceased to function in retail outlets and stationary cash dispensers. The most unpleasant thing is that Visa and Mastercard blocked the payment system without any warning. About half a million data card holders of companies were in a quandary. But, as you know, these organizations are interested in further cooperation with the Russian Federation, and therefore, two months after the incident, international payment systems and the government agreed to continue the work of companies in Russia. During the negotiations, amendments were made to the legislative framework of the Russian Federation “On the national payment system”: foreign corporations undertake to place quarterly deposits in the special accounts of Sberbank with collateral in the amount of a quarter of the daily monetary turnover of the system (that is, about $ 100 million for each).
In the future, it is planned to integrate the Visa and Master Card subsidiaries in Russia into the national payment system. This will create two different organizations. A bill on this topic has already been submitted to the State Duma of the Russian Federation. Another question is that the transfer to a single national settlement system of all its participants will take more than one month. But this necessary measure should be implemented for a safer economic situation in the country and the protected position of every citizen of Russia.