I thought you were supposed to be able to use a Visa card anywhere you see the Visa logo. Not so in Russia, where Sberbank recently refused me, with the explanation that they only service Visa cards issued by themselves.

Anyone else come across this?

That is really odd and most probably a case of employee misunderstanding. Generally the VISA (and MasterCard) regulations state that all merchants must accept all V/MC issued if they accept one.

The exception to this is that some banks in certain countries (Brasil and India come to mind) may issue domestic cards only. This means that those VISA or MasterCards are only valid for use within their country of issue. However, all merchants in those countries must accept all international cards issued by an association member

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I Love New York -- Viva Espa�a

So, some poor Indian or Brazilian customer goes into Lloyds in Knightsbridge with his Visa card and gets told he can't use his card! Seems to make a mockery of the system to me -- how is a merchant supposed to know a Visa card is only for use in a particular country, without swiping it and then waiting for the refusal to come through? If you ask me, the people at Visa need a thumping great kick up the derriere. This is supposed to be a product with worldwide acceptance. I have been caught in France in the past, now in Russia, where next.... ??

Those customers that are sold the domestic only cards are very clearly told that they are domestic only and customers can always apply for the international card as well. This is a way for the banks to give very low limit credit cards to customers who otherwise wouldn't have access to credit. It also protects the issuers from huge potential fraud losses. Trust me, those who have the domestic only cards are NOT going to be shopping in Knightsbridge, they are never even going to be getting on a plane.

People who those countries who want to be able to make overseas purchases and meet the credit requirements can get an international enabled card.

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I Love New York -- Viva Espa�a

They should then create their own network and stop messing up this well established international system.

For example in Asia, JCB was created in Japan and U-Card was created in Taiwan... to satisfy their domestic use market. Then they expand internationally when then grow bigger...

But use Visa or MC name without offering its true access... that sucks. It's like getting a Euro dollar that can only be used in France. Does that make sense to have an alliance at all?

I have heard this before from my friends who traveld to Taiwan and were refused Visa/MC if the issuing bank is not a big one, they explained to my friends that they only trust banks such as Citibank,Chase or FirstUSA. cards issued by smaller banks are out of luck...

This might be the case a few years ago. I just got back from a trip there few weeks ago. All transactions are approved in real time using Point-of-Sale terminals. This was not something available to most merchants there a few years ago. They are everywhere now. So most stores will take any V/MC in Taiwan these days.

However, YOU as a consumer have to be careful. There are instances that a card is swiped twice and gets duplicated for fraud. They particularly like foreign cards as they are harder to trace back. So I will avoid using a foeign card for small transactions, espeically with unknown/individual merchants.

There should be no problem with any major chain department stores.

hi Moremiles, this might have been a few years back. However, i'd try to avoid smaller merchants because either they don't like small banks from overseas or like you mentioned they will overcharge you.

eventhough i hate using cash...

We use credit card cash advances a a cheap way to send money to our relatives in Moscow Russia. We just add them to one of our visa / mc accounts as an additional user and they go to Moscow banks and do cash advances with a 3% mol fee. It is the cheapest most convenient money transfer we can figure out. Never had any refusal.

The trouble is, the POS terminals are NOT reliable. In Moscow, they very often cannot get a conection to the authorisation centre, and the banks here simply REFUSE to make a manual call. Believe me, I have gone through this in intense detail with the people at Visa, and there is no improvement whatsoever.

I also use Visa as a way of transferring funds cheaply to my relatives in Georgia, and down there, there is never a problem.


Originlly posted by russellt:

[QUOTE]
We use credit card cash advances a a cheap way to send money to our relatives in Moscow Russia. We just add them to one of our visa / mc accounts as an additional user and they go to Moscow banks and do cash advances with a 3% mol fee. It is the cheapest most convenient money transfer we can figure out. Never had any refusal. [QUOTE]

[This message has been edited by Dr. Zhivago (edited 08-28-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Dr. Zhivago (edited 08-28-2002).]

cheapest way is to use a debit card.
Then you are not charged 3% for cash advance.
You cannot add non-US person to be authorized user for a debit card as she/he must have a US SSN or tax-id number. SO, the solution is:
1. open a no-fee account at internet bank and request a debit card and PIN
2. send the card over and notify the bank that the card may be used abroad
3. they can use the card at ATMs only as the names do not match - the card is on the name of US account holder

Yikes! So, your "solution" suggests doing something which totally breaks the conditions of use of the card, opening someone up to almost unlimited liability if the card gets stolen, etc. That's really insane. ... and totally unnecessary, so let's clear up some misinformation here:

I am a secondary cardholder of a US credit union debit card and have no SSN or tax number, so it is not impossible.

Whether you will be charged 1%, 3%, some other percentage or a fixed charge for cash withdrawals overseas is not dependant upon whether it's a debit or credit card, but upon
the particular issuing financial institution's whim.

To go back to the original topic, Japan is another country in which you'll see lots of VISA logos on ATMs that will not accept cards issued outside Japan. I believe that VISA should make these banks either conform to the usual obligations of serving cardholders or remove the VISA logos.

I almost NEVER use Visa, because of the negative experience of a few years back. I still carry it as an insurance policy, just in case I hit on one of the few places which don't accept anything else.

Oh, and I do carry a USD Visa card, which occasionally sees the light of day, but again, only out of sheer necessity.

You would think an international brand like Visa would read this and WAKE UP.

Just to clarify this a bit: Although it's true that many ATM's in Japan will accept only domestic cards, this is not true of merchants accepting cards for purchases. I've never seen or heard of a situation where a merchant displaying a Visa/MasterCard logo for purchases had a problem with foreign cards.

The bigger problem in Japan is finding merchants that accept credit cards at all. Although it's gotten a lot better in recent years, it's still nowhere near the level of creidt card acceptance that you have in the US, for example.

This, combined with the ATM situation pointed out above, and with the fact that generally speaking, merchant's won't take traveler's cheques (you must go to a bank and exchange them for cash), you have to have your cash situation planned out a bit better than at home if you're the type of person that is used to walking around with a credit card, ATM card, and $40 in cash.

To Kremmen:
I trued to add a non-US resident as an authorized user to Citibank and WaMu accounts - no luck. Was told SSn is needed for tax reporting.
The debit card without Visa/MC (now you have specifically ask for it) logo can be used in ATM only - and you cannot withdraw more than yu have in your account.
Where do you see a problem