VISA Credit Card Company

VISA is a brand of credit card and debit card operated by the VISA International Service Association of San Francisco, California, USA, an economic joint venture of 21,000 financial institutions that issue and market Visa products. The VISA card was launched in 1976, and the card was derived from the earlier BankAmericard issued by Bank of America.

VISA: Originally BankAmericard
Internationally, BankAmericard was known by other names prior to the introduction of the VISA brand for the network. The blue-white-gold motif used by BankAmericard was also used for these cards. In the United Kingdom, it was known as the BarclayCard, issued by Barclay's Bank. In Canada, an alliance of banks (including Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada, and Bank of Nova Scotia) issued credit cards under the Chargex name. In France, it was known as Carte Bleue (Blue Card).

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