Visa was originally founded in 1958 under the name BankAmericard.
Bank of America launched BankAmericard in Fresno, California, as a general-purpose consumer credit card. The program was later expanded through licensing arrangements with banks outside California. This network approach helped the card system grow beyond a single bank and eventually become an international payments organization.
The name Visa was adopted in 1976. The rebranding created a more internationally neutral identity and separated the global card network from the Bank of America name. Visa later became a publicly traded company and one of the world's largest payment networks by transaction volume and market capitalization.
Visa does not generally lend money directly to cardholders in the way a traditional issuing bank does. Banks and other financial institutions issue Visa cards, while Visa provides network infrastructure and payment processing. That distinction is a frequent source of confusion when comparing Visa with banks or with Mastercard.