Visa and MasterCard Tracking Your Online Purchases

People that are concerned about their online privacy are not going to like this one bit. The two largest credit card networks, Visa and MasterCard, are now embarking on a new technology whereby they can target card holders for advertisements based on past purchases. So every time a credit card transaction takes place for an [...]

MasterCard Had a Surprisingly Good 2009

With our economy in the worst shape it’s been in since the great depression, it came as a rather pleasant surprise to see that MasterCard did quite well in 2009, relatively speaking of course, thank you very much. The world’s second largest processor of credit card transactions (Visa is number one) saw a 1% rise [...]

MasterCard Shows Better Than Expected Earnings

There was some good news for a change in the credit markets to report. MasterCard surprised Wall Street by exceeding analysts earnings estimates. It would seem that the economy is in fact improving, although it looks like a jobless recovery. MasterCard’s third-quarter profit shows that the world’s second-largest payments network is benefiting from more and [...]

If You Are Traveling To Europe Take Your American Express Card

Here is a quick tip for overseas travelers. If you are planning to travel to Europe you should most definitely take along your American Express credit card. While American Express isn’t as widely accepted across the pond as its cousins Visa and MasterCard, they do have a decided advantage, a physical presence in Europe. Case [...]

Capital One Financial Corp Reports A Record 4th Quarter Loss

Capital One Financial Corp. is the parent company of credit card behemoth Capital One. It also has recently gotten into the branch banking business by buying Louisiana based Hibernia and New York based North Fork Bancorp. They have also reached an agreement to buy Chevy Chase Bank which serves the Washington D.C. area. Capital One, [...]