VIENNA, Va. – Visa, the largest credit and debit card association, has recognized Navy Federal Credit Union's customer service for its Visa cardholders with a pair of awards. The credit union beat out other very large card issuing institutions. The award program groups Visa members and processors into three tiers based on annual Visa sales volume. Visa issuers such as SunTrust, Wells Fargo, Capital One, Bank One and MBNA join Navy Federal in this First Tier group, the credit union reported. The first award was in the category of Lowest Copy Request-to-Sales Ratio. The award reflects superior customer service by issuers in resolving cardholder dispute questions at the initial contact. This reduces the number of copy requests needed to resolve the cardholder's questions and initiate a charge back. The second award was in the category of Lowest Charge back to Sales Ratio. The award reflects best performances by issuers in evaluating potential disputes to make sure only warranted chargebacks are processed. Navy Federal began offering Visa products in 1986 and is now the seventeenth largest Visa issuer (credit and debit combined), with over $5.7 billion in Visa sales in 2002.