A Guide to Cookies and Other Technologies

• Cookies
  Cookies are small text files that websites send to your computer or other Internet-connected devices to uniquely identify your browser or to store information or settings in your browser. Cookies allow us to recognize you when you return. They also help us provide a customised experience and can enable us to detect certain kinds of fraud.

First-party cookies are those set by Visa or generated by the domain you are directly visiting, such as a social media platform. These cookies are used by Visa and include all strictly necessary cookies that support the core functions of our websites and apps.

Third-party cookies are set by another company, including service providers, social media platforms and third-party advertising companies. Cookies set by third parties may be accessed by those third parties when you visit other websites within the same advertising network. This allows them to build a profile of your online behaviour and deliver targeted advertisements on behalf of their clients.

Some of our sites may use Google reCAPTCHA, a security service provided by Google, to protect our website and verify that actions (such as form submissions) are made by humans and not bots. reCAPTCHA uses essential security cookies for this purpose. For more information about reCAPTCHA, please visit Google's Privacy Policy.

Pixel Tags and Web Beacons
Pixel tags (also called web beacons) are tiny graphic images and small blocks of code placed on website pages, adverts or in emails that allow us to determine whether you have performed a specific action. When you access the pages or open an email, the tag lets us know you have accessed the web page or opened the email. These tools allow us to measure the response to our communications and to improve our webpages and promotions.

Server Logs
Server logs record activities on our websites. Other types of logs collect similar information from our apps. These logs record information about the device you use to access our website, your operating system type, browser type, domain and other system settings as well as the language your system uses and the country and time zone in which your device is located. Our logs also record the IP address of the device you use to connect to the Internet. An IP address is a unique identifier that devices require to identify and communicate with each other on the Internet. We may also collect information about the website you were visiting before you came to Visa and the website you visit after you leave our site.

How we use cookies

We use cookies and other online data collection tools for several different purposes.

• Strictly necessary cookies and tags are used by Visa to support the core functions of our websites and apps. They enable core website functions, such as authentication, security, network management and accessibility. You may be able to disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.

• Analytics cookies and tags are used to measure aggregate website visitor activity, allowing Visa to optimise content. These are only treated as a separate category of cookies in certain countries where these cookies may be “on” by default (allowing you to switch them off at your discretion). Otherwise, these cookies fall under the “Performance and Operation” category outlined below and will be switched “off” by default where required, such as in the UK or EU.

• Performance and operation cookies and tags are used by our service providers and us to manage our websites. These activities may include collecting analytics about visitors to our website and collecting information about website usage. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the website. These cookies help us gather data to optimise our website’s performance.

• Site experience cookies and tags are used to support your experience and include user-selected options and site navigation aids.

• Marketing and personalisation cookies are used to enable social sharing and to deliver interest-based ads to you online.

  • Both we and social media platforms use social media cookies and tags to enable users to share content across our websites. We also work with social media platforms to deliver advertisements to you when you use these platforms. This targeting is done by the platform under its own terms of use.
  • Advertising cookies and tags are used by us, our service providers and third parties to personalise the advertisements delivered to you on our website as well as other websites. These cookies collect data about your online activity and enable the display of advertisements that may be of relevant interest to you. These cookies also record which advertisements you have seen and whether you interacted with them. These cookies help make sure that the ads you see are valuable to you and not repetitive.

Third-party cookies and tags may also be placed when you visit a Visa website. This enables third parties to gather information via these technologies when you visit our websites. The information they collect is subject to their own privacy policies.

Our server logs record information about users who access our websites. We may use these logs for internal purposes such as website administration, optimisation and security. We may also use the data for fraud-protection, personalisation and advertising.

The use of cookies may vary by country or region. More information is provided in the supplemental privacy notices posted in the Privacy Centre or in the relevant website or app.

Your choices

• For websites in certain countries, Visa provides you with the ability to manage cookies that are not strictly necessary for displaying our website. You can do this by clicking on the banner that appears when you first access the site or by using the Cookie Preferences link located at the bottom of the Visa website you are interacting with. Many Visa websites only place marketing, personalisation and advertising cookies if you explicitly accept these cookies by clicking “Accept All Cookies” when you first visit the website. If you have accepted cookies, you may adjust your preferences by accessing the Cookie Preferences link at the bottom of the Visa website you are interacting with.
• You can manage and delete cookies from Visa and other companies via your browser settings. Browsers such as Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari give you the ability to accept, reject or delete cookies. Visit the “help centre” for your browser to learn more. Please note that Flash and Silverlight cookies are not managed via your browser settings. To manage Adobe Flash cookies, visit the Flash Player help page. To manage Microsoft Silverlight Cookies, visit the Silverlight section of Microsoft’s privacy statement.
• You can also take advantage of industry-sponsored programmes that allow you to control the way companies advertise to you.
  • The Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) manages an opt-out programme for many third-party advertising companies. To opt out of targeted advertising by NAI members, please visit https://thenai.org/opt-out/.
  • On certain websites, you may notice an AdChoices icon displayed on certain targeted advertisements. You may click on the AdChoices icon to learn more about the collection and use of your information or to opt out of such collection in future. To learn more about the Digital Advertising Alliance Consumer Choice tool, please visit http://optout.aboutads.info.
  • Additional information about cookies and online advertising choices is offered by:
    • Adobe Marketing Cloud: If you would like more information about how to remove yourself from the tracking and reporting functions carried out for this website by Adobe Marketing Cloud, please visit the opt-out page at https://www.adobe.com/privacy/marketing-cloud.html.
    • Google: For information about how Google Analytics uses data, please visit “How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services,” available at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

In most cases, the choices you make are associated with your browser. If you use different browsers or devices, you will need to set your preferences on each one individually. Even if you opt out, you may still receive ads that are not customised for you, unrelated to your browser settings.

Although our websites currently do not have a mechanism to recognise the various web browser “Do Not Track” signals, we do offer customers options to manage their cookie preferences as described above. To learn more about browser tracking signals and Do Not Track, please visit https://www.allaboutdnt.com.

Residents of certain countries and regions have additional privacy rights. Information on these rights is provided in the supplemental privacy notices posted in the Privacy Centre.