MasterCard Credit Card Company - Credit Card Companies

MasterCard Credit Card Company

The MasterCard company, now known as MasterCard Worldwide, is a corporation based in Purchase, New York, in the United States. The company's most important function is the processing of payments made amongst merchants' banks and purchasers' banks that utilize its MasterCard credit cards and debit cards for making purchases. It was in 2006 that the MasterCard company became a publicly traded company. Before that, it was owned by more than 25,000 financial institutions which issue its card.

The United California Bank (which later became First Interstate Bank, and then merged with Wells Fargo Bank), Crocker National Bank (which was also merged into Wells Fargo), the Bank of California (which was later on merged into the Union Bank of California), and Wells Fargo established the MasterCard company to rival Bank of America's BankAmericard. BankAmericard is now known as the Visa credit card offered by the company Visa International.

The MasterCard credit card has the name Master Charge, which was licensed from Lousville's First National Bank by the aforementioned California banks. This was done in 1967, and because of the help extended by Marine Midland Bank in New York (now known as HSBC Bank USA), these banks became part of the Interbank Card Association in order to actualize the "Master Charge: The Interbank Card".

During 1979, changes took place as "Master Charge: The Interbank Card" took on the name of "MasterCard". Early on in the 1990s, the British Access card was bought by MasterCard, and MasterCard dropped the Access name. Europay International SA, which is another association that issues credit cards holding the name of Eurocard, became absorbed by MasterCard in 2002. Come 2006, MasterCard International was renamed as MasterCard Worldwide. This move was done to impart the impression that operations of the company are being done on a global scale. Aside from that, the company also changed its logo by adding a circle to the two that's already featured. They also introduced their new slogan which is "The Heart of Commerce".

Most MasterCard credit cards have features like extended warranties on items purchased using the card. These cards can also offer damage waivers on cars which were rented using the card, as well as accident insurance when one pays for travel using the card.

The company is also sponsoring various sports teams, among which are New Zealand's rugby union team, the All Blacks, as well as the UEFA Champions League. It also sponsors the Canadian Hockey League's Memorial Cup Tournament, and the Cricket Team of Australia.