Best Visa Credit Cards

The main Visa credit card phone numbers are 1 (800) 847-2911 in the United States and Canada and1 (303) 967-1096 abroad. The Visa credit card phone number for hearing-impaired callers in the U.S. and Canada is 1 (800) TDD-1213. All three Visa card phone lines are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

There are only a few reasons to call Visa customer support instead of your credit card’s issuer. Visa is able to answer questions regarding Visa benefits, for example. They offer “Travel and Emergency Assistance” that connects cardholders with medical, legal and transportation help. Plus, Visa can arrange for emergency cash delivery in the event of a lost or stolen card. They can help report the card lost or stolen, too. But it’s best to go directly to the card’s issuer for that. Visa support can help connect you with your issuer if you don’t know how to contact them.

Visa credit card phone numbers:

• Cardholders in the U.S. and Canada: 1 (800) 847-2911
• Cardholders outside of the U.S. and Canada: 1 (303) 967-1096. Call collect via the local operator
• Hearing impaired, U.S. and Canada: 1 (800) TDD-1213
• Hearing impaired, outside of U.S. and Canada: 1 (512) 865-2002
• Toll-free outside of the U.S. and Canada: A list of toll-free numbers for each country is available on the Visa website

You should not call Visa customer support with card-specific questions. You should direct queries concerning applications, credit limits, billing disputes, etc., to the bank or credit union that issues the Visa credit card in question. Each has its own phone number, which you can find on the back of the card.

This information is accurate as of the day this answer was posted.

There is one Visa exchange rate for every type of currency, which can change once every 24 hours. And that rate is automatically applied to any international transaction made with a Visa credit card or debit card. You can easily check the latest Visa exchange rates online to get an idea of what to expect when traveling.

Here’s how to see your Visa exchange rate:

1. Go to Visa’s online Exchange Rate Calculator.
2. Select United States Dollar for your card’s currency.
3. Select the currency used by the merchant.
4. Enter your bank fee (foreign transaction fee), if applicable. Ideally, you should use a no foreign transaction fee credit card.
5. Put in today’s date (the tool can’t predict the future).
6. Click “Calculate Exchange Rates.”

Using a no foreign transaction fee Visa credit card when traveling abroad will save you up to 9% compared to converting hard currency, according to WalletHub’s Currency Exchange Study. But a Mastercard will do the trick, too. There’s actually not much difference between the exchange rates offered by these two worldwide card networks.

Lastly, you should always avoid Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC). This is when a foreign vendor converts the price of a purchase to U.S. dollars, supposedly for your convenience. But that gives the merchant a chance to use an unfavorable exchange rate in place of the low rate you’d automatically get from Visa.

The Visa Infinite concierge is a free personal assistance phone line available 24/7: 877-660-0905 in the U.S. or 1-312-800-4290 if you’re traveling abroad. The Visa Infinite concierge can help you do things like book restaurant reservations, select gifts or obtain event tickets right when they go on sale. The service is available to anyone with a Visa Infinite credit card, such as Chase Sapphire Reserve or the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite Card.

Here’s what the Visa Infinite concierge can do for you:

• Recommend and book flights, hotels, cruises, rental cars, tours or other travel plans
• Help you locate and make reservations at restaurants
• Get tickets for plays, sporting events, concerts or other events as soon as they go on sale
• Recommend things to do in the area in which you’re traveling
• Reserve conference or meeting rooms
• Get you access to translation, security or legal services
• Help you rent equipment (computers, phones and more)
• Recommend gifts, order them and arrange delivery
• Help you track down difficult to find gift items
• Assist you with your own unique requests

You can ask the Visa Infinite concierge to help you with pretty much anything you can imagine. They’ll do their best to assist you. And they should be able to complete most tasks within 24 to 48 hours.

Finally, it’s worth noting that you don’t need a Visa Infinite card to use a Visa concierge. Visa Signature cards offer a concierge service as well. Both concierges can handle the same range of requests, according to a Visa representative. But the Visa Infinite concierge gives cardholders access to a wider range of exclusive events, travel arrangements, and discounts.

Costco takes Visa credit cards, Visa debit cards and Visa gift cards. In fact, Costco only takes Visa cards. You cannot use Mastercard, Discover or American Express cards at Costco. If you don’t have a Visa card, you will have to pay by cash or check. This has been the case since June 2016, when Costco switched from only accepting American Express cards.

It’s not common for retailers to have an exclusive relationship with one card network. Most stores that accept Visa also take Mastercard. It’s more common for stores to not take Discover or American Express.

Does Costco take Visa? Here are the facts:

• Costco takes all Visa credit cards, debit cards and gift cards.
• Costco only takes Visa cards. They won’t accept Mastercard, Discover or American Express.
• You can tell if your card is a Visa by looking for the Visa logo (usually on the front).
• If you don’t have a Visa card, you’ll only be able to pay with cash, a check or a prepaid Costco Cash Card.
• Costco has its own co-branded Visa credit card, the Costco Anywhere Visa. You can use it not only at Costco but anywhere in the world Visa is accepted.

The Costco Anywhere Visa card is one of the best Visa cards to use at Costco. However, you will need to have a Costco membership ($60+ per year) in order to get it. That shouldn’t be an issue, though, as you have to be a Costco member to make purchases there anyway. But if Costco’s credit card doesn’t interest you, you can use any Visa you want.

The Visa credit card extended warranty coverage depends on what Visa you've got, exactly. You only have extended warranty for Visa Signature and Infinite cards, not for regular ones. If you've got an American Express card, maybe use that one for the purchase. All of them have extended warranty, big or small.

The Visa Signature Concierge is basically a glorified customer-service line that’s available to Visa Signature cardholders 24/7. What’s unique is that they’ll help you with certain types of special requests. They include booking dining, entertainment and recreation; coordinating travel; and delivering gifts.

The good news for folks who don’t have a Visa Signature credit card is most of that is pretty easy to do online without one.

A Visa foreign transaction fee of 0% to 3% could apply to purchases processed outside the U.S., depending on which Visa credit card or debit card you have. The Visa foreign transaction fee is usually $0 on travel rewards credit cards, which are built for spending all around the world. And some credit card companies, such as Capital One, don’t charge foreign fees on any of their cards, Visa or Mastercard. But many other Visa cards come with foreign transaction fees of 1%, 2% or even 3%.

If your Visa card does have a foreign transaction fee, you’ll have to pay it any time you make a purchase from a merchant that’s based in a country other than the U.S. So that means it applies to online purchases too. 

While it’s difficult to list every Visa’s foreign transaction fee – the are a ton of Visa cards –  we can go over a few popular examples. 

Here are some Visa foreign transaction fees:

• All Capital One Visa cards: 0% foreign fee
• All USAA Visa cards: 0% foreign fee
• All PenFed Visa cards: 0% foreign fee
• Chase Sapphire Preferred: 0% foreign fee
• Bank of America Travel Rewards: 0% foreign fee
• Bank of America Premium Rewards: 0% foreign fee
• Chase Freedom Unlimited: 3% foreign fee
• Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa: 3% foreign fee
• Credit One Bank Platinum Visa: 3% foreign fee

As you can see, there are a lot of opportunities to get a Visa card with no foreign transaction fee. That’s definitely a good idea before traveling (or shopping) abroad, since Visa is accepted just about anywhere that takes credit cards worldwide.

Your Visa card number and security code help verify the card’s authenticity. You need them, along with the card’s expiration date, to make purchases online or over the phone. Luckily, your Visa card number and security code are easy to distinguish once you know what you’re looking for.

How Visa card numbers and security codes work:

• Card number: A Visa credit card number can be 13-to-19 digits long. It’s usually printed right on the front of your card. But some cards have begun to put the number on the back as an extra security measure. Either way, you can’t miss it. Your card number is completely unique. It’s the primary piece of information merchants use to identify your account.
• Security code: A Visa card’s security code is a 3-digit number printed on the back, to the right of the signature box. It plays a big role in online and phone transactions, since you can’t just swipe, tap or insert your card. The code helps confirm that a card is legitimate. If someone just has your card number but not the security code, they can’t use it.
• Expiration date: The month and last two numbers of the year in which your Visa credit card expires are printed on the front of your card. It might say “08/24,” for example. It’s the date through which the card remains valid. In other words, your card will work through the last day of the month listed. This is the last big piece of information you’ll need to make purchases online or by phone.

When you swipe, tap or insert your card at a store, you won’t have to worry about your Visa card number and security code, as the computer system deals with them automatically. But it’s good to know where everything is when you need to make a purchase manually. For example, the security code for Visa, Mastercard and Discover is 3 digits on the back of your card. For American Express cards, it’s 4 digits on the front.

There are hundreds of Visa credit cards with rewards points, which individual credit card issuers give cardholders for making purchases and reaching certain milestones, but Visa does not have its own rewards points. Rewards are the responsibility of the banks and credit unions that issue credit cards, and Visa is not a credit card issuer.

Visa still provides plenty of perks, just not points, miles or cash back for making credit card purchases. Cardholders can claim special Visa offers for savings on travel and shopping, for instance. Visa also is responsible for secondary credit card benefits such as rental car insurance, extended warranty protection, travel insurance and more.

When it comes to rewards points credit cards on the Visa network, the points that you can earn are worth about 1 cent each, on average. The exact value varies by rewards program and depends on what you redeem the points for. Typically, you can spend your Visa card’s rewards points for travel, merchandise through an issuer’s online shopping portal, cash, gift cards, charity donations and more. In some cases, Visa rewards points may be worth more with some redemption methods than others.

You can earn rewards points by making purchases with the right Visa credit card as well as by meeting the spending requirements for a bonus, referring a friend and more, depending on the card.

When comparing Discover vs. Visa, you’ll find a lot to like from both camps, such as Discover’s lack of foreign transaction fees or Visa’s wide global acceptance. The main difference you’ll see is that Discover issues its own cards. In other words, it’s a credit card issuer in addition to being a card network. Visa is only a card network. Networks are mostly responsible for processing payments and setting the rules for where and how cards can be used. Issuers determine things like an individual card’s rates and rewards.

There are a number of different categories in which you can compare the two networks. Visa emerges as the winner in most.

Discover vs. Visa – U.S. Acceptance:

Discover is accepted at almost all U.S. merchants (10.4 million). But Visa just barely edges them out, with 10.7 million. There are 344.7 million Visa cards in circulation in the U.S., compared to Discover’s 51.4 million.

Discover vs. Visa – Foreign Acceptance:

Visa is accepted at virtually every merchant in the world who takes credit cards, in 200+ countries and territories. Discover is accepted in 185 countries and territories, but many of those places only have a small number of merchants who will accept Discover. Discover does have the benefit of no foreign transaction fees on any of its cards, though, while Visa cards may have fees up to 3%.

Discover vs. Visa – Network and Issuer:

Discover is both a network and an issuer. Visa, on the other hand is just a network. So Discover has a lot more control over what rates and rewards each of its cards has.

Discover vs. Visa – Supplemental Benefits:

This is where Visa really shines. Their benefits include extended warranties, price protection, purchase protection, rental car insurance and travel insurance. Discover used to have most of these benefits, but they were discontinued.

Discover vs. Visa – Major Issuers:

Discover Bank issues nearly all of the cards on the Discover network. But lots of different banks and credit unions issue Visa cards, including Capital One, Chase, Citi, Bank of America, U.S. Bank, Barclays, Synchrony and USAA.

At the end of the day, you’ll want a Visa card with no foreign transaction fee if you’re headed abroad. But if you’re staying stateside, a Discover card will serve you just as well as a Visa.