What does MasterCard mean?

Many individuals actually do not make the difference between the issuer of a credit card and the payment transaction processor of a card. Logos such as MasterCard or Visa do appear on the credit card, but these are not the issuer companies of the respective card; these are the payment processors. MasterCard is a huge provider of these services for banks (issuers) all around the world, and it actually has under its umbrella the Cirus, the Maestro and the PayPass as well.

More recently, the PayPass is a smart card, or “contactless” sort of card and it is being issued by the Bank of America, Citibank, HSBC and the Washington Mutual among others. MasterCard is basically the mediator factor between issuers (banks) and acquirers (merchants accepting it), having reached a number of almost 30 million places where it is being accepted in the world.