Can I Use My Visa Card to Get Cash?

Banks and credit card companies issue debit and credit cards that carry the Visa logo. You can use a card with the Visa logo on it to make cash withdrawals at various locations throughout the world. Visa processes payments for banks and financial institutions. Cards with the Visa logo are part of the Visa payment processing network, but Visa does not actually issue debit or credit cards.

When you are given a debit card, the card issuer provides you with a Personal Identification Number (PIN). You can also obtain a PIN for your credit card, although you normally have to specifically request a PIN, as most credit card companies do not send PINs as standard procedure. You can withdraw cash from an automated teller machine (ATM) by entering your debit or credit card along with your PIN. There are normally daily ATM withdrawal limits for both card types and these limits vary based on your account history.

You can access cash from your credit or debit card by taking out a cash advance. Daily limits that restrict the amount that you can withdraw from ATMs do not usually apply to cash advances, although you may have a separate cash advance limit on your credit card. Credit card companies charge a higher rate of interest for cash advances than other kinds of withdrawals. You do not pay interest on debit card cash advances, but the bank conducting the transaction may charge some kind of processing fee.

When you make a purchase in a store you can enter your PIN number into the point-of-sale terminal and request to receive cash back as part of the transaction. The vendor adds the cash amount to your transaction total and funds are immediately transferred from your account to the vendor. However, you can normally only get cash back for transactions involving visa debit cards and not transactions that involve a visa credit card.

You can use your Visa debit or credit card at ATMs and POS terminals around the world, but rules about card use vary from country to country. Although you only need a PIN to make cash withdrawals in the United States, you need a PIN to conduct almost every kind of transaction in some European countries. If you use your debit or credit card for a purchase at a POS machine in Europe that involves no cash back, vendors normally require you to both sign for the purchase and to enter your PIN.