What Are Visa Checkout and MasterPass and Why Should You Sign Up?

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Keeping up with all of the ways to pay for things nowadays is hard. I remember the days of cash, check or credit (or money order). Now we have mobile payments with Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay ,Chase Pay and services like PayPal and Venmo to contend with. I was asked if I wanted to use my PayPal account to pay for my Home Depot purchase in the store the other day. The line between online and in-store payments is blurring more and more every day. If you’re confused where Visa Checkout and MasterPass fit into the equation, I don’t blame you.

What are Visa Checkout and MasterPass?

Forget that Visa Checkout and MasterPass might have anything to do with the credit cards they’re named after; you need to think of these programs more like digital wallets. They’re services where you can store your credit or debit card information and then use one login to pay for items online without having to enter your card information every time. When you check out, you select to pay with Visa Checkout or MasterPass. You then log into your account and pick which card you’d like to pay with. You then are returned to the website you’re buying something from to complete the transaction. The whole process is supposed to be more secure because you don’t have to enter your card information every time.

The most important thing to know is that you don’t need to use a Visa card with Visa Checkout. The same goes for MasterPass – no MasterCard required. You can enroll any major bank’s credit OR DEBIT card with these services, regardless of the type of card it is. That would even apply if you have a prepaid account like a Serve card or Bluebird or a gift card with a Visa, Mastercard or American Express logo. For example, I have an Mastercard, American Express and Discover card registered to my Visa Checkout account. Confused yet?????

How to sign up

You can apply for a Visa Checkout account by clicking HERE.

You can apply for a MasterPass account by clicking HERE.

Just remember you can register whichever card you want with these programs.

Why should you sign up?

All these companies (Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, Apple, Google, Samsung) are trying to compete in the digital wallet space because they feel this is the future of all payments. Getting a foot in the door is crucial to being relevant, however this type of payment develops. To do so, many of these services are running promotions that give you money when you make a payment with their service.

Check out some past headlines:

• Best Buy is offering an extra $25 off $100 or More when you pay w/ VISA Checkout
• Fandango is offering BOGO Free Movie Tickets w/ Visa Checkout (I used this one twice this spring)
• Visa Checkout Walgreens.com $10 Off $50 Purchase Promotion
• Staples – $25 OFF YOUR ONLINE ORDER of $100 or more when you pay with Visa Checkout.
• Capital One: Make Two MasterPass Purchases & Get $10 Credit*
• Earn $25 in Deal Bucks w/ MasterPass Payment*
• Buy $10 get $5 gift card with MasterPass
• Save $10 on a $10 Walgreens purchase with MasterPass

Are you sensing a trend here? Free money to get you to start using your Visa Checkout or Masterpass accounts.

Final Thoughts

It only takes a few minutes to sign up with these services. I find they put out offers I can take advantage of every few months. Even it only saves $10 or gives me $20 back, that’s still free money to me. Between the movie tickets and Starbucks offers, I’d say we’re up almost $100 for the year. That’s better than a kick in the head.

Have you taken advantage of any of these offers? Are you still confused how these things work (I wouldn’t blame you if you were)? Drop us a message in the comments and we’ll get back to you ASAP.

*I wish MasterCard could decide if  the “p” in MasterPass/Masterpass should be capitalized or not. Even their own website and logo have it both ways.

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