

What happens when a credit card is swiped? (infographic) - startupstella
http://feefighters.com/blog/what-happens-when-a-credit-card-is-swiped/

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sachinag
Direct link: [http://feefighters.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2010/10/trans...](http://feefighters.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2010/10/transaction-flow-infographic.png)

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lenni
Maybe this chart is a little misleading but I looks like Mastercard and Visa
are quite superfluous.

Why do they exist?

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aston
Visa and Mastercard are cards owned by the banks. They take a cut mostly
because they can, but also because the infrastructure involved to process a
transaction isn't free. For what it's worth, non-bank cards like American
Express take a larger fee.

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stanleydrew
I don't understand what you mean by "Visa and Mastercard are cards owned by
the banks."

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seiji
You can't go to Visa/MC and get a card. You have go go through an issuing
bank. As opposed to Amex where your card is issued from them directly (though,
they do have bank issued Amex cards too).

