Maestro, Visa or MasterCard Prepaid Card - Does it matter?

Prepaid cards are quickly becoming the preferred payment method for a variety of online and offline transactions and the rapid growth and use of these cards in various sectors such as Money Transfer, Travel Money, Payroll, Online Shopping, Gambling, youth and business is already well documented. 

Typically, these cards tend to have been marked with MasterCard or Visa scheme badges, while the Maestro seems to be very popular in England, and the question most consumers ask whether it really counts, whether their card is a Maestro, Visa or MasterCard cards. 

Well the simple answer is yes it is depending on your use of these cards. 

Risk and attractiveness to fraudsters

Global acceptance and millions of locations where they could use their prepaid cards are an important consideration for travelers who use prepaid cards to raise money. Moreover, the chances of a prepaid MasterCard is accepted on gambling and adult sites are much higher than a Maestro-branded cards. Unfortunately, the reverse is that MasterCard is probably more attractive to fraudsters than a Maestro card, although prepaid cards operate in a safe environment. So, maybe a Maestro Card is right for you if you are risk averse and your primary use is for online shopping and high street or use the United Kingdom. 

Accepted Globally

There are major differences in the card acceptance worldwide, so you must be careful and ensure that the card is just for your needs, before making a final selection. If we look at some Quick Stats world-wide acceptance, we see 

    * MasterCard: Over 28 million world-wide acceptance locations 

    * Visa: Over 12 million world-wide acceptance locations 

    * Maestro: Over 9 million world-wide acceptance locations 

Fully branded Visa or MasterCard travel card is accepted at millions of retailers around the world. While Maestro and Electron acceptance is increasing, you may still experience problems using these cards to buy goods in many destinations. 

Maestro accepted is continuous improvement and card acceptance are currently about 9 million locations worldwide and on 960,000 sites and web pages in England. Over 100 countries throughout the world accept Maestro. But many do not, so be sure to check the acceptance before they buy a prepaid Maestro card for your holiday cash or international money transfer. Maestro prepaid cards can be used at ATM internationally, wherever you see the Maestro or Cirrus payment brand. 

MasterCard is currently accepted worldwide in merchant outlets and ATMs where you see the MasterCard (or Maestro / Cirrus) sign. You can use your prepaid MasterCard at more than 28 million locations worldwide. 

A Visa prepaid card works like a Visa credit or debit card, with the difference that each transaction must be authorized and approved electronically. Your Visa prepaid card is accepted in over 160 countries, over 12 million electronic merchant locations worldwide. 1 million ATMs showing Visa or PLUS brand payments accept Visa Electron. 

Currently, MasterCard offers the best in the world-wide acceptance and has been widely mooted as the most popular badge scheme and therefore constitutes a popular choice for prepaid card program managers seeking to deliver the program's success. They are also popular with consumers looking for increased global acceptance albeit with a slightly larger element of risk.