FAQs
Corporate
What is Visa Europe and who owns it?
Visa Europe is a membership association of European
members and other payment service providers that have collectively
issued more than 460 million Visa debit, credit, commercial
and prepaid cards in Europe. In the 12 months ending June
2012 those cards were used to make purchases and cash
withdrawals to the value of €1.8 trillion.
What does Visa Europe do?
As a dedicated European payment system Visa is able to respond
quickly to the specific market needs of its European members and
their customers – cardholders and retailers and businesses, and to
meet the European Commission’s objective to create a true internal
market for payments.
How is Visa Europe related to Visa Inc.?
Visa Europe is a wholly separate company to Visa Inc. and has a
different corporate design. In October 2007, Visa Europe became
independent of the new global Visa Inc., with an exclusive
irrevocable licence in perpetuity to operate in Europe. At that
time, Visa Inc. listed on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming a
publicly traded company.
How many countries does Visa Europe operate in?
Visa Europe operates in 36 countries in Europe. Visa
Europe’s headquarters and main operational offices are in the UK
and there are local offices in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech
Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Ireland, Italy,
Hungary, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.
How many Visa cards are there in Europe?
In Europe, there are 460 million Visa debit, credit, and
commercial cards.
How many card transactions overall are made every year?
In the 12 months ending June 2012 Visa
cards were used to make purchases and cash withdrawals to the value
of €1.8 trillion. 14% of consumer spending at the point of sale in
Europe is with a Visa card, and almost 80% of that is on Visa debit
cards. .
Using my Visa card
Where can I use my Visa card for making payments?
Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world. In
addition, Visa/PLUS is one of the world’s largest global ATM
networks, offering cash access in local currency in more
than 200 countries.
Can I get a card from Visa directly?
Visa does not issue cards. Please contact your bank or other
payment service provider if you would like a Visa card.
What can I do if I don’t receive goods or services I have
purchased using a Visa debit card?
Visa’s consumer protection offers consumers the opportunity to
reclaim money spent on a Visa card if they are an innocent victim
of fraud, they do not receive goods or services as expected, if
goods are lost or the wrong goods are received. Simply put, there
is no safer way to pay than with a Visa card. There is no
upper limit on the value of the goods or services to be refunded
and in most cases customers are covered for purchases abroad on
their Visa cards as well as in the UK. The protection is subject to
the terms and conditions of the payment services provider issuing
the Visa card.
When I shop online how does Verified by Visa help protect
me?
Verified by Visa is the password protected service that verifies
a cardholder’s identity while shopping online. It requires
the cardholder to provide a personal password when paying for goods
online with their Visa card – just as they would provide a PIN or
signature on the high street. Verified by Visa provides proof
that a genuine cardholder and genuine Visa retailer are taking part
in the transaction, protecting them against the risk of their card
being used fraudulently on the internet. For the retailer it
provides a guarantee the cardholder is who they say they are and
reduces the likelihood of fraudulent transactions.
New / existing products and technology
What are contactless payments and how does this technology
work?
Contactless payments are where payment instructions are securely
exchanged between a contactless EMV chip card and acceptance
terminal using wireless communication technologies. The same type
of payment instructions could also be exchanged between an
acceptance terminal and a contactless EMV chip and PIN standard
application in a mobile phone or an item such as a key fob.
Irrespective of which method is used, contactless payments can be
processed securely and cost-effectively in seconds. They are
therefore an ideal payment method in situations where retailers
need to process a large number of low value transactions, such as
in fast food restaurants, convenience stores and transport
terminals. They are also ideal for remote or unattended payment
situations, such as vending machines, road tolls or parking meters.
Further information can be found in the factsheets section of the website, or see how
we’re making money
flow with new products and technology.
Fees
What are interchange fees?
Interchange is the fee typically paid by the retailer’s bank to
the cardholder’s bank every time a Visa card is used. It should not
be confused with the fees paid by retailers to their banks.
Following a transaction, the retailer’s bank pays a fee to the
cardholder’s bank. This helps banks share the costs of issuing Visa
cards and the cost of signing up retailers to accept those cards.
Interchange enables cardholders, retailers and their banks to
participate in the transaction process. Further information can be
found in the glossary section of the website.
Why do some retailers add a surcharge to card payments? Doesn’t
this undermine Visa’s argument that cards are cheaper than cash for
retailers?
Visa regulations include a no surcharging rule, however local
laws in each European country may specifically allow retailers to
surcharge. However, in countries where surcharging is
permitted, very few retailers and businesses impose it as they
recognise it discourages custom. Furthermore, most retailers
benefit from card payments in a number of ways including: cost
savings – no need to count, store and collect cash; and increased
security - for example chip and PIN which has more than halved
fraud levels since it was introduced; and a reduction in losses of
cash from till.
With the implementation of the Payment Services Directive (PSD)
– a regulatory initiative from the European Commission to regulate
payment services and payment service providers, as part of the goal
of achieving a Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA) - countries
are obliged to legislate on whether surcharging is permissible or
not. National Governments are working on transporting the
directive into law, and countries are at various stages of
this. Any countries that opt to permit surcharging will
implicitly encourage the use of cash, which for society at large,
is a more expensive and more insecure payment mechanism.
Fraud
What is Visa doing to tackle payment fraud?
Fraud and business risks are constantly changing. This is
why we are continuously working to evolve Visa’s security
infrastructure, to develop new security-led products and features
and to reduce the impact of fraud when it happens. We do this
by working closely with our members, retailers and businesses,
developing the tools that support securing transactions.
The biggest single factor in reducing fraud has been the
introduction of EMV chip and PIN. Since it was introduced in
the UK, high street fraud (known as face-to-face fraud) has more
than halved. Fraud on lost or stolen cards in particular has
fallen dramatically as they become useless for fraudsters who do
not possess the correct PIN.
Visa sponsorship
What sponsorship deals is Visa currently involved in?
Full details of Visa’s sponsorship deals can be found in the
factsheets section
of the website.