Visa’s original name was BankAmericard when Bank of America launched its card program in 1958.
Bank of America introduced BankAmericard in Fresno, California, in September 1958. It was one of the first broadly distributed general-purpose credit cards, allowing customers to buy from participating merchants and pay later. The system eventually expanded beyond Bank of America’s direct control through licensing and international partnerships.
In 1976, the international BankAmericard organization adopted the name Visa. The new name was intended to work across languages and markets, and Visa later became a global payments network rather than a conventional lending bank.
Master Charge, which later became Mastercard, was a competing card network. American Express also operated a major charge-card business, but its card was not the original name of Visa’s program.