Best Visa Credit Cards in June 2024

What is a Visa credit card?

Visa credit cards aren’t a single entity but rather a network of credit cards that operate on the Visa payment system.

Each credit card is issued by a bank or credit union that’s willing to front the money used to make your purchases. The bank adds the value of your purchase, which they’ve already paid for, to your monthly credit card account balance.

When you pay your credit card bill, your payment is processed by Visa and sent to the bank as reimbursement for your purchase. Visa is the intermediary. They’re not issuing credit cards, but they do organize the purchasing and payment mechanisms.

Credit card issuer vs. credit card network

The credit card issuer is the bank or other financial institution that issues credit cards and determines initial terms, such as your total credit limit.

Your card issuer will also determine:

• Eligibility: The bank decides if you’re eligible for a particular credit card.
• Fees: The bank sets all terms and conditions, including how much you’ll pay for foreign transactions, cash advances and balance transfers.
• Interest rates: The issuer sets interest rates, which may be a flat rate or vary depending on market rates and your credit history.
• Rewards: Issuers set out your rewards schedule, though certain rewards or redemption opportunities may hinge on which credit card network your bank is partnered with.
• Bonuses: All welcome bonuses are set by the credit card issuer and may change at any time.

Credit card networks act as go-betweens when the cardholder makes a transaction covered by the card issuer. Intermediaries like Visa and Mastercard charge a fee for facilitating those transactions.

Your ability to use a Visa or other branded card at a particular store is determined by whether that credit card network has an agreement with the vendor.

Visa credit card benefit tiers

While credit card issuers control most of your card’s features, Visa still offers benefits of its own. These Visa benefits fall into three tiers: Traditional, Signature and Infinite.

You can see the card’s tier on the original paperwork or by looking beneath the Visa logo on the bottom-right corner of your credit card. If there’s no tier designation, you have a traditional card. Signature and Infinite levels are expressly noted.

Traditional Visa benefits

Traditional Visa credit cards typically come with a basic array of benefits that are still attractive:

• Discounts and memberships: Enjoy free or discounted memberships to affiliated companies, such as Shipt and Dovly Uplift.
• Emergency assistance: Receive access to pay-per-use roadside assistance, including short-range towing and tire changing.
• Account management and protection: Report a lost or stolen card, get a replacement card sent globally within 72 hours and (where eligible) receive an emergency wire transfer to your local Western Union.

Visa Signature benefits

Visa Signature includes Traditional benefits plus a few key extras:

• Lifestyle benefits: Get exclusive access to over 25 Sonoma County Visa Signature wineries and special guest status at some 900 Visa Signature Luxury Hotel properties globally.
• Travel benefits: Travel stress-free with perks like discounts on luxury and other rentals from Audi, Avis and Budget.
• Travel insurance and emergency assistance: Call Visa travel and emergency services 24 hours a day for help with medical situations, emergency transport, ticket replacement and other urgent concerns.
• Purchase protection and extended warranties: Some Visa Signature cards extend warranties attached to products bought with your card. You may also get purchase protection to help replace or repair items stolen or damaged within 90 days of purchase.

Visa Infinite benefits

Visa’s highest tier builds on Traditional and Signature benefits with even more perks:

• Insurance and emergency assistance: If your trip is canceled or interrupted, Visa will cover the eligible nonrefundable costs of your fares. Delays are also reimbursable for up to $500. Accidents are covered that result in accidental death or dismemberment, with insurance capped at $500,000.
• Travel and lifestyle benefits: Hotel, car rental and concierge benefits reach a premium level with Visa Infinite. Get help with reservations, tickets, bookings and more. Enjoy VIP status, complimentary upgrades and daily breakfasts with Visa Infinite Luxury Hotel Collection and VIP amenities and discounts with participating car rental networks.

Pros and cons of Visa credit cards

How to choose the right Visa card for you

There’s no single best Visa rewards card, but you can find the best card for your specific needs.

Here’s some tips to get you started:

• Business owners: The best cards for business owners offer rewards on business-related purchases, like office supplies. Also look for cards that may extend the line of credit you need to stay competitive.
• Travelers: If you travel often for work or play, look for travel credit cards that let you earn points or miles you can redeem for hotels, flights, rental cars and other travel-related amenities and activities. Some of these are great options for cards with airport lounge access.
• Students: Student consumers are often still establishing or building credit. Credit cards for fair credit consider this and may offer complementary services such as credit building and monitoring features. Also consider cards that offer rewards on purchases important to students, such as books, dining and entertainment. 
• Credit builders: Credit-building cards are designed specifically for individuals working on their financal situation. Features like budgeting tools, credit-building tutorials and other incentives pave the way for higher credit scores and more financial freedom.
• Online shoppers: Make the most of online purchases with cards offering rewards for purchases made through approved online retailers.
• Everyday shoppers: Sometimes, the best way to save is on the purchases you make every day, like grocery shopping and household essentials.

How to apply for a Visa credit card

Once you find the Visa credit card that’s best for you, you can apply through the card issuer. That means applying through a bank, like Chase or Capital One, not through Visa.

You can usually get a Visa card online by submitting your application and waiting just a few minutes for an automated response. You can also apply at a physical bank location or by phone, depending on the issuer.

Tips to get the most value from your Visa credit card

Top-rated Visa credit cards come with many benefits, but there are still some things you can do yourself to maximize your ROI:

• Earn the welcome offer. Do everything required to get the points or cash back attached to your card’s welcome bonus.
• Match spending and rewards. Use each card for whatever purpose best matches with the highest rewards option. For example, use your travel card just for travel and your everyday card for all your grocery shopping.
• Avoid fees and interest. Look for low- or no-fee Visa cards and only spend what you can pay off every month.
• Look for Visa credit card offers. Take advantage of promotional offers to move a balance from a high-interest card to a low-interest card or buy and pay off a big purchase before 0% APR introductory interest expires.

Alternatives to Visa credit cards

Sometimes, even the best credit cards on the market don’t align perfectly with your needs. Here’s how Visa stacks up to some other card networks.

Visa vs. Mastercard

Visa and Mastercard are the two most prominent card-processing networks. Both offer three card levels and use banks and credit unions as intermediaries. Both processors are widely accepted and fairly equal in terms of main perks (zero fraud liability, travel insurance, etc.). Most of the differences are found on an individual basis for each subtype of Visa and Mastercard credit cards.

Visa vs. Amex

Like Visa and Mastercard, Amex processes credit card transactions on behalf of contracted issuers. But American Express also issues some cards of its own. You may find that Amex credit cards aren’t as widely accepted as competitor cards (about 170 countries versus Visa’s 200), this is mostly due to Amex’s higher vendor fees.

For consumers, Amex and Visa are comparable in terms of annual fees, rewards and perks. But there are far more Visa cards on the market, which could increase your opportunities to get multiple Visa credit cards and stack rewards.

Amex is still packing plenty of benefits, though, and it has one major advantage: If you get an Amex card issued by American Express itself, you’ll have a direct line to customer service rather than going through a separate financial institution.