Visa Card Service Awards

Looking for a Credit Card for Christmas Shopping? Before you submit a credit card application, first review the main points which will help you choose the right credit card for your needs.

What Charges You'll Make - If you're going to use the credit card mainly for booking airline reservations and hotels, it might be best for you to get a travel credit card that offers sky miles and hotel points or cashback. If this will be an emergency credit card only, then your main concern may be for a low interest rate credit card with low fees.

When You'll Repay Charges - Will you pay off credit card charges in full every month, or will you carry a balance month to month? If you're going to carry a balance, you want the lowest possible interest rate as well as a low introductory rate. But if you'll payoff balances in full every month, then interest rate really doesn't matter so no annual fee and/or a long grace period would be a bigger concern. If you're going to carry a balance, be concerned about how the finance charge is calculated. The most common method is the Average Daily Balance, which means that the daily balances are added together and then divided by the number of days in the billing cycle. Stay away from credit cards that compute the balance using two billing cycles, as this method costs more money in financing fees.

What Amount You'll Charge - If you're going to use the credit card for all your monthly expenses, then you need a card that has a high credit limit and a high cashback percentage.

More info about Interest Rates, Credit Limits, Incentives, Fees and Penalties

Interest Rates - The interest rate (Annual Percentage Rate) APR can either be a fixed rate or a variable rate that is tied to another financial indicator, most commonly the prime rate. With a fixed rate credit card you know what the interest rate will be every month, whereas a card with a variable rate can fluctuate. Of course, even the interest of a fixed rate card can change based on certain events, such as paying your credit card bill late, exceeding your limit, or simply because the credit card issuer decides to change it after providing you ample advance notice.

Credit Limit - This is the amount of money the credit card company will let you charge to the card. This amount varies depending upon the card offer and your credit history. Be sure to get a credit card with an ample limit, because getting close to your max can hurt your credit score. Just remember that you don't have to max out your limit just because it's available.

Incentives - To compete for and to gain customers, many credit card companies offer rewards. Even if you normally use cash, why not use your credit card and then use the cash to make the payment during the grace period? You still won't pay interest and meanwhile you'll rack-up rewards. A credit card with 5% cashback will earn you $5 for every $100 charged. If your total bills come to $2,000 per month, you'll earn a free $100 every month. Look for a rewards program that you'll use and which offers flexibility, such as cashback or travel.

Fees and Penalties - Compare common charges such as late fees, overlimit fees, balance transfers, cash advances, and for making payments by telephone. Regarding balance transfers, look for credit card offers with no transaction fees and zero percent interest for at least 12 months.

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Visa Card Service Awards

By Credit Federal | Published 06/9/2008

Visa Inc. announces service quality performance award winners. Don't have a Visa card? Browse for a secured credit card, platinum credit card, or a Gold Visa Card.

For the past 16 years, Visa has had an annual awards program to recognize the top financial institutions for their exceptional card operations performance.

The Visa Service Quality Performance Awards program acknowledges consistent, superior performance and continued service quality improvement in specific areas, including authorization performance, copy requests, chargebacks and cardholder and merchant satisfaction at the point of sale. Awards are given based on transactions issued and acquired within the United States.

To ensure the most equitable evaluation of performance, issuers, acquirers and processors are placed into peer categories based on annual Visa sales volume rankings.

Recent Service Quality Performance Award winners include (in alphabetical order):

America First Federal Credit Union
Applied Bank
Arvest Bank
Bank Of America
BB&T Corporation
Boeing Employees' Credit Union
BOK Financial Corporation
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
Chevy Chase Bank
Federal Savings Bank
Comerica Incorporated
Commerce Bancshares, Inc.
Compass Bank
Credit One Bank, National Association
Electronic Data Systems Corporation
Fifth Third Bank
First Citizens BancShares, Inc.
First Data Resources, Inc.
First Hawaiian Bank
FirstBank Holding Company of Colorado
FirstMerit Bank, National Association
First National Bank of Omaha
Fulton Financial Corporation
GE Capital Financial Inc.
INTRUST Bank, National Association
J.C. Penney Company
KeyBank National Association
Marshall & Ilsley Corporation
M&T Bank Corporation
Merrill Lynch HC
National City Corporation
Nordstrom fsb
Old National Bank
The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.
Regions Financial Corporation
State Farm Financial Services, F.S.B.
SunTrust Banks, Inc.
Synovus Financial Corporation
Target National Bank
TCF Financial Corporation
The Independent BankersBank (TIB)
Total System Services, Inc.
UMB Financial Corporation
Union Bank and Trust Company
U.S. Bancorp
USAA Savings Bank
Wachovia Corporation
Wells Fargo & Company
Western Corporate Federal Credit Union
Whitney National Bank
World's Foremost Bank

Visa established the Service Quality Performance Awards program to recognize issuers, acquirers and processors that demonstrate consistent, superior operating performance and a continued focus on service quality improvement. Visa reviews the Service Quality Performance Awards program annually to ensure that the award categories and criteria remain of high value and relevance. Award winners must sustain operating excellence over the course of one calendar year in key areas, and VisaNet processors must be in compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard during the award period to be eligible for the program.

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Visa Card Service Awards - by <a href=http://creditfederal.com>CreditFederal.com</a> <div style="text-align: left; font-family: Verdana;">Visa Inc. announces service quality performance award winners. Don't have a Visa card? Browse for a <a href="http://creditfederal.com/secured-credit-card.html">secured credit card</a>, <a href="http://creditfederal.com/platinum-credit-card.html">platinum credit card</a>, or a <a href="http://creditfederal.com/gold-visa-card.html">Gold Visa Card</a>. For the past 16 years, Visa has had an annual awards program to recognize the top financial institutions for their exceptional card operations performance. The Visa Service Quality Performance Awards program acknowledges consistent, superior performance and continued service quality improvement in specific areas, including authorization performance, copy requests, chargebacks and cardholder and merchant satisfaction at the point of sale. Awards are given based on transactions issued and acquired within the United States. To ensure the most equitable evaluation of performance, issuers, acquirers and processors are placed into peer categories based on annual Visa sales volume rankings. Recent Service Quality Performance Award winners include (in alphabetical order): <ul><li>America First Federal Credit Union</li><li>Applied Bank</li><li>Arvest Bank</li><li>Bank Of America</li><li>BB&T Corporation</li><li>Boeing Employees' Credit Union</li><li>BOK Financial Corporation</li><li>J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.</li><li>Chevy Chase Bank</li><li>Federal Savings Bank</li><li>Comerica Incorporated</li><li>Commerce Bancshares, Inc.</li><li>Compass Bank</li><li>Credit One Bank, National Association</li><li>Electronic Data Systems Corporation</li><li>Fifth Third Bank</li><li>First Citizens BancShares, Inc.</li><li>First Data Resources, Inc.</li><li>First Hawaiian Bank</li><li>FirstBank Holding Company of Colorado</li><li>FirstMerit Bank, National Association</li><li>First National Bank of Omaha</li><li>Fulton Financial Corporation</li><li>GE Capital Financial Inc.</li><li>INTRUST Bank, National Association</li><li>J.C. Penney Company</li><li>KeyBank National Association</li><li>Marshall & Ilsley Corporation</li><li>M&T Bank Corporation</li><li>Merrill Lynch HC</li><li>National City Corporation</li><li>Nordstrom fsb</li><li>Old National Bank</li><li>The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.</li><li>Regions Financial Corporation</li><li>State Farm Financial Services, F.S.B.</li><li>SunTrust Banks, Inc.</li><li>Synovus Financial Corporation</li><li>Target National Bank</li><li>TCF Financial Corporation</li><li>The Independent BankersBank (TIB)</li><li>Total System Services, Inc.</li><li>UMB Financial Corporation</li><li>Union Bank and Trust Company</li><li>U.S. Bancorp</li><li>USAA Savings Bank</li><li>Wachovia Corporation</li><li>Wells Fargo & Company</li><li>Western Corporate Federal Credit Union</li><li>Whitney National Bank</li><li>World's Foremost Bank</li></ul> Visa established the Service Quality Performance Awards program to recognize issuers, acquirers and processors that demonstrate consistent, superior operating performance and a continued focus on service quality improvement. Visa reviews the Service Quality Performance Awards program annually to ensure that the award categories and criteria remain of high value and relevance. Award winners must sustain operating excellence over the course of one calendar year in key areas, and VisaNet processors must be in compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard during the award period to be eligible for the program. </div> This article provided courtesy of <a href=http://creditfederal.com target=_new>www.CreditFederal.com</a>, a personal credit resource of good or bad credit credit cards and loans.

Credit Tip: Need a high limit for Christmas credit card charges? If you have bad credit, consider a personal loan by refinancing your mortgage. Even if you have cash to buy Christmas presents, we recommend using a prepaid card to make purchases because it's safer than carrying cash.