Mastercard
Review
Mastercard Incorporated is a US-based financial organisation. Aimed at the Global market, Mastercard has been in existence since as far back as 1979. The head office of the main operations is based in New York and this is from where they run their corporate processes. On top of this, they also have a large set up in O’ Fallon, Missouri from where they run their global distribution and operations.
Although detailed here as beginning operations in 1979, they did exist prior, operating under the name of InterBank, this was from 1966 until 1969, then taking up the trading name of Master Charge until ten years later, then changing to the name we commonly see today. A small change was made as recent as 2016 when MasterCard decided to simply drop the capital ‘M’ from their name, finally settling on Mastercard.
Their financial status is absolutely huge, recent information reported their assets to be worth a simply awesome $236.15 Billion! Most recently in early 2021, Mastercard has been reported to entering the world of cryptocurrencies. Although many people have mixed feelings towards cryptocurrencies, the very fact that an established and trusted brand such as Mastercard is getting involved speaks volumes.
Mastercard differs from the debit cards many of us use from day to day, debit payments are usually taken directly from available funds in our bank accounts. Mastercard is a credit facility where funds are not usually available there and then in the associated bank account. Upon signing and accepting the credit agreement when the card is issued, the holder will be set a pre-agreed credit limit with Mastercard and the issuing supplier. Payments can then be made using the persons Mastercard in person, online and cash withdrawals from ATM’s.
With all Mastercard transactions there will mostly be associated interest charges, again usually an agreed amount per transaction, for example, 2% on top of all card transactions or 5% on all cash withdrawals and so on. These interest charges are added as accumulative amounts to the cards outstanding balance, the debtor/owner of the card will then be sent a monthly invoice with details of what they have spent or used on the card, together with a breakdown of where they have accrued interest and what they must also pay for that calendar month, a deadline is also usually agreed and detailed in the monthly statement information.
In appearance, the Mastercard is again very similar to a debit card. A long 16 digit number adorns the front of the card together, normally centred then with the cardholders name below and the valid from and expiry dates. The Mastercard logo will appear somewhere again on the front of the card, the colour, design and presentation of the card would vary from bank to bank.
The back of the card contains the signature strip and CVC number (card verification code) and maybe a contact number to report a lost and stolen card to.
When using the card, payments and transactions can be completed in various ways. These include chip and pin where the card and personal identification number are used by the owner when out in person. Then there is the card not present facility where the user would make use of the long card number and CVC code, examples would be when making payments over the telephone or online. Finally, there is the increasingly popular contactless method where card users simply ‘tap’ their cards across the payment terminals in stores and shops for example.
As this is a gaming forum, some may wonder how these cards can be used to fund their casino accounts. Please check before proceeding as regulations are regularly changing, for example, credit cards (Mastercard being a perfect example) cannot be used for any form of gambling in the UK. Where these transactions are permitted, the player at the time can simply link their Mastercard to their casino account and deposit directly using the CVC code as security, alternatively, they could also use the Mastercard to deposit to an e-wallet such as PayPal or Skrill and deposit from the e-wallet to the casino.
Credit: Written by Jon M.