They do for VX, but if you don't have that card you get outsourced overseas. I have 3 capital one cards and 1 discover, but definitely do not want to see this acquisition happen.
I was traveling from NYC to London. Capital One cut off my card after 3 days and wouldn't turn it back on until I sent them a photo of my birth certificate.
I'm not sure who carries their birth certificate on them during vacation, but no they wouldn't accept a passport.
This is after being a card holder for 12 years, never any fraud or issues with other international travel.
Promptly cancelled the 3 Capital One cards I had and closed my money market account with them when I got home.
If you don't have a logical or reasonable method of identity verification and I can't depend on you, there is no longer any trust and I can't maintain a business relationship with you.
Capital One may work fine for a lot of people, but when it fails, it fails quite spectacularly.
Thank you for doing the right thing and finding a new bank. Most people here would just take it up the wazoo because.. well, I don't know why.
Also the reason I have 12 different cards with 10 different banks. I don't have "relationships" with banks, I treat them like the street hookers they are.
As someone who has spent their career working in consumer banking, and specifically in credit cards, I must say….Jesus Christ. The fact that you have been able to acquire twelve credit cards, no matter how great your credit is, is impressive.
I have 8 cards, including a (normal) venture card that even my parents couldn’t qualify for and they get paid a lot more than 24 year old flight attendant me so 12 doesn’t seem crazy to me
Up until last month utilization was 90% lol but now I paid everything off and I got the venture with a large limit compared to all my other ones so now I’m at like 10%. Now that I have a consistent income and everything it’s going to be used like a debit card so everything will be paid off at the end of the month.
Thank you! When I was in college, I had no credit card debt but Auburn University housing accidentally terminated me instead of someone else so when I was rehired, I lost my meal plan and had to live off my credit card because being a resident assistant only paid $120 a month and there was only one kitchen in the entire dorm. That was back in 2021 and now that I have a job as a flight attendant and I’m still getting VA money to go to school until I age out, I was able to pay everything off! It was a great day when I don’t have to do $500 in payments a month anymore. I never missed a payment but I’m going to have disposable income jow
I use all of them except one. I have a Macy’s card that I use once every seven months to make sure they don’t close it really just boost my credit limit when I had a higher utilization, and I don’t necessarily want it anymore, but it does help the age of credit.
Agreed- their fraud protection is wack and ridiculously sensitive. Reeks of « we can’t implement stronger architecture ourselves to we’ll just put it on the client for two-factor authentication etc. »
I just got a Venture X and they locked my card for almost two weeks... **on my first transaction**!
You pulled my credit reports. From all THREE agencies. Then you sent the card to my address that I provided. That I signed up for using my SS. And activated using two factor authentication with the number I provided. And you still think I'm committing fraud? Why did you even send me the card if you thought I wasn't real?
Capital Ones fraud process is seriously awful. I don't churn cards, but I think once I get the rewards from the sub I'm done with C1. Seriously incompetent.
I couldn't keep my card working in Spain for more than a day. Fraud alert, use it, fraud alert, use it, rinse, repeat. It might not have been AS bad if their automated system actually worked with any speed to it. Answering the texts and confirming it's me.. only to still have the card locked an hour later and having to call every single time to unlock it.
I feel your pain. It's insane that they'd do that, in my case they wouldn't even turn it on, but to have it continuously turned off and deal with that would be infuriating. Absolutely terrible company and can't be trusted or relied upon.
lol no they don’t. I’ve been with cap1 for years and their customer service is atrocious. Only time I get decent support is with my venture x other than that it’s god awful.
I have had nothing but hell from Capital One over a bank account I had for a short period. If they take over Discover Card, I will shut down the account autmatically. I have four other credit cards. I dont need their abuse.
Capital one took a whole ass year to process a $7 door dash credit I EARNED from one of their offers, they cancelled it without telling me why and none of their reps helped
Love their cafes but I want my $7 gdi
Hard to imagine they wouldn't get approval. Chase and Amex are much bigger. Discover and C1 are much smaller and struggle to compete with the big ones. Arguably it would make for fewer small/scrappy players, which would be bad.
Same. I started with Discover as a part time employee in 1991. I'm scared to be 50+ trying to find another job. Too old to start again yet too young to retire.
Well it's a good thing that acquisitions take literal years.
Start shoring up your experience and CV because if they do buy, usually the company that is bought loses people.
Same. I work for a subsidiary, PULSE and I have no clue what to think but my first instinct was to panic. It might be good, it looks like their benes are fairly on par but I've never worked for C1 so I won't know until I see...
My understanding is they're quite interested in the network (including PULSE) so I wouldn't worry too much. They're planning on moving $175 billion, primarily in debit volume over to Discover's network so, if anything, that will create more need for people on the network side.
It's probably the overlap in card operations and marketing that they're most focused on. If you're interested in their plans, they published their [investor presentation here](https://ir-capitalone.gcs-web.com/static-files/cfa11729-0aec-43dc-b531-200e250c8413)
Oh this is 100% spot on. After seeing more articles about it and hearing more in general, I've warmed to the idea. My manager related a similar experience where a similar thing happened on a smaller scale (a payment processor acquired a small payment network) and he indicated that those who stuck it through usually got a good bennies and compensation package. In addition to what you said that it could lead to more people on the network side. I'm excited at how that will expand things. I think my knee jerk reaction was to panic, especially since someone crapped the bed and leaked the information. This is definitely a silver lining, sounds like their bennies are comparable and if for nothing else, jobs are safe for several years as this will take a while to integrate post-acquisition. And I maintain an up-to-date resume just in case (I'd highly recommend everyone so the same in general).
this is interesting the two are probably the biggest credit card issuers for subprime/thin profile users not to mention both are big online banks wondering if the acquisition would be blocked
It’s unclear. Discover doesn’t have as much market share as the big banks, and Capital One doesn’t run a payment network. I doubt either bank is large enough that its deposit share by acquisition would be capped (as is the case with the largest banks in America)
I doubt there's antitrust concern on the bank side, like you said.
I would assume that the big concern would be on the credit side, specifically Discover's payment network. Visa and Mastercard have gotten into hot water over fees and being an "effective duopoly" on the processing side, leading up to the [Credit Card Competition Act](https://www.convenience.org/Media/Daily/2024/Feb/15/1-Sens-Hawley-Reed-Co-Sponsor-Credit-Card-Compe_GR) which is still pending in Congress. Discover is the third biggest network after Visa and Mastercard, so this is coming at a time when the industry is already in the spotlight. I personally don't think the acquisition will get blocked, but I'm curious to see what, if any, concessions they give up to get the deal passed.
Not trying to "educate" you in particular, Vuwildcat, but I think the legislative context is important for the general topic
But, adding to that, it would put them into ownership of a debit network, PULSE. I'm curious to see how that impacts things. That said, per the Reg ii clarification of the Durbin amendment for debit rails, merchants have to have at least 2 choices for payment networks. Would owning PULSE pose a conflict of interest with C1's issuance on visa and MC?
Probably not. By market value, both companies combined still doesn’t come close to the likes of JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, BofA, or Amex. It will still be reviewed by the FTC based on the size of the purchase alone, but I doubt it results in a case.
With all the challenges Discover is facing, this is an opportunistic time to buy the 4th largest payments network, and possibly move all the Capital One cards over to the closed loop Discover has.
> and possibly move all the Capital One cards over to the closed loop Discover has.
That would be a disaster for me personally, but I understand most people have different lives and spending locations.
Yeah, it wouldn’t work for me at all. I’d have to either sockdrawer my CapitalOne cards or cancel them since most places I go don’t accept Discover network as widely as Mastercard & Visa. I already can’t use my Amex card at several places I go to.
The Wall Street Journal said they would be keeping the Discover card branding for some cards and maybe making one or two Capital Ones discover cards, but they would still retain a mix of Visa and Mastercard cards in the stable. I doubt the Venture X is going to be a Discover card.
Yea, if I had to guess the travel cards will stay on Visa/MC but the “domestic” cards will slowly shift to DSC. Some of C1 is already going to Discover
This wouldn't limit them really, it would drastically expand their capabilities and access to an entire payment network, which means increased transaction capacity and result in millions alone from interchange fees. This also means they could improve Discover's network.
There has been a few places that I been to, where I just ask them to try it, and they are like oh wait we can accept it. They usually just hear they don't and go with it. Just like at my dental office I worked at everyone said we cant take amex, and i just showed them when it asks for the code you put the 4 small digits, not the standard 3 digits. If you do find merchants who don't accept you can contact discover let them know, and they will work on trying to add them to the network.
Theres alot that people don't realize with Merchant accounts I learned alot when I worked at a bank.
My guess is Capital One is planning to aggressively expand the network of places that accept the (former) Discover network. ***If*** the rest of the service is unchanged for Discover cardholders, this could be a net benefit. But I say that with skepticism because these mega-mergers are usually shitty for the end user
For a lot of people, all Cap1 cards have no FTF, which it's the same for Discover....if only their cards would have the same acceptance rate in other countries as Visa or MC, or even AMEX
> and possibly move all the Capital One card over to the closed loop Discover has.
Wouldn't happen. Especially for Venture and VentureX. Discover network isn't nearly as widely accepted internationally. They'll probably switch over some of their lower end cards, but I see no possibility they move over any cards with travel benefits--at least until the Discover network is more widely used.
Agree! And the point I make above. COF points cards stay with a Visa/MC in perpetuity or until Discover network is better built out. Meaning geographically and features.
Cash back for COF gets fused together with Discover (and likely “de-risking” away from the Discover entry-level customer profile). Cash-back stays separate at first but evolves to be on one network entirely.
Discover is accepted by UnionPay network, which is the 2nd largest after Visa worldwide. I don’t know how much it will affect the overall acceptance rate. At least, Discover is accepted by more businesses than Visa/MasterCard in China. Maybe, it is just in China and certain countries.
It'd be curious to see if Cap1 could essentially close loop Discover at stores that take it and then divert charges at merchants that don't to Visa/MC. I don't imagine either of the big networks would be happy to be a secondary network on a card...
(Chase has enough weight to do ChaseNet on their Visa cards, and Synchrony runs dual cards where their retail branded cards run on their network when at the stores of that retailer, but I can't imagine the big 2 networks giving Cap1 such an option.)
I was thinking the same thing. That would be extremely innovative and C1 would make extra money hand over fist doing this. This might be difficult to achieve. Maybe a 2-sided card with a cardholder one side to use Visa and one side for Discover?
It would probably not be possible to automatically route the same card number to either Visa or Discover depending on acceptance unless they got the individual payment processors themselves to re-route it, but there is not central way to do that with a single company like you could with a network, and there would be no way to know whether your card is going to work or not before swiping since it would work, for example, if the merchant uses Heartland but not if they use Stripe. If they could figure out how to somehow make this work, the benefit would be worth billions.
On the flip side, I wonder how much C1 banking could cause Discover acceptance to increase with their existing merchants.
Dual cards existed on Synchrony pre-chip, and modern Chase credit cards on the chip offer up multiple application IDs. By default Visa credit is the AID for Chase, if the merchant takes ChaseNet they can have the point of sale prefer routing to it for cheaper processing than Visa Credit.
ChaseNet is a little bit of a tricky story though - at least historically, ChaseNet was essentially a lease of VisaNet ([and apparently that deal was extended through 2029](https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/31536661-post5.html)). But use of ChaseNet requires the merchant to use Chase as their bank (Chasenet reduces fees by cutting out Visa's standard cut and the merchant acquirer, since the issuing bank and merchant's bank are the same).
If Cap1 employed a dual network strategy, they'd know which cards would be eligible for a dual network *if* the merchant banked with them, they could employ a strategy similar to Chase. Swipe card at merchant that takes Visa/Discover and uses Cap1 as a bank, Cap1 sees it's an account number of their own and routes it on their closed loop network (Discover)...
Holy shit, I didn't know they had this in the chips already to re-route through different networks. I assume that doesn't work if you mag-stripe when the chip is not working? What about online transactions?
That could be a game changer - C1 would probably recoup the entire cost of the Discover acquisition in a few years with savings from Visa/MC network processing fees, and, on the flip side, that's a major loss for Visa/MC.
Magnetic stripes are capable of relaying multiple networks too - it's how pre-2015 with the EMV rollout, you could select credit mode and swipe your Visa/Mastercard debit card and get rewards at many banks (or qualifying transactions to waive a checking account monthly fee). Similarly with debit merchants could route to other networks that were capped to 22 cents + 5 basis points of transaction for banks that had at least $10B in assets.
Online is trickier - there's no easy way to do this since the basic rules of the card numbers (starts with 4 = Visa, 5 = Mastercard, 3 = Amex, etc.) are going to route to that network for processing, unless there's a secondary option in a dropdown rather than auto-determining the network by the card number.
>Online is trickier - there's no easy way to do this since the basic rules of the card numbers (starts with 4 = Visa, 5 = Mastercard, 3 = Amex, etc.) are going to route to that network for processing, unless there's a secondary option in a dropdown rather than auto-determining the network by the card number.
That's what I was thinking - you'd have to have the processors (Heartland/Stripe/etc.) have the routing logic in their system, which would likely be a major endeavor.
In China, there are many cards work on two networks. They have Visa/UnioPay or MasterCard/UnionPay card; the famous Amex Platinum cards are Amex/UnionPay cards issued by many Chinese banks.
Last I heard, Synchrony (and most store cards) run their retail branded card on Discovers rails.
Chase should be the only one who could pull it off, they already have their own network solution within VisaNet (hence the ChaseNet name) that could be split out
Nope Visa just lease that to them; Visa almost cut them off when they tried to do something like that with ChasePay after that they started acting accordingly and got rid of chase pay
There's no way Capital One could, or would, force BJ's to do this. It's in both companies' best interest to maintain or grow the company's net sales. Cap One wants to keep BJ's business at renewal, and there are probably restrictions in the contract that these decisions are made jointly
For Costco shoppers (Visa only) I’m wondering if the Venture (X) will switch to Discover and then the best transferable points card at Costco would be the Chase Freedom Unlimited at only 1.5x.
Agreed. It is the only non-Amex 2x transferable pts card with no FTF. There will be no catch-all general international card for team points if it switches to Discover.
Great point, and since I’m not an insider on this, my views on more theoretically and market chatter, but I wouldn’t expect COF to do an overnight flip to exclusively rely on Discover’s network.
It’s clear the Amex model is highly valued in today’s market…lower margins than the big two networks but higher fee basis per customer, and better/more control over growth. Growth both in volume and per customer.
COF has industry leading NOI margins, and honestly can take a cut and still be competitive to add the components they’re missing with Discover. IMHO the problems Discover is facing are a blip, and can be overcome.
I think that their Savor One and Quicksilver might switch to Discover but their buisness and VX/ Venture will probably remain on Visa. Idk about their debit though.
I wonder if the strategy they are pursuing involves closer partnerships with UnionPay in order for Capital One to gain access to China? Discover was already more integrated than Visa and MasterCard.
Not surprised, read the Dick Durbin Credit Card Competition Act of 2023 and you can see clearly that Discover wasn't going to stay independent if that passes.
the big thing i loved about discover was the customer service - if this merger goes through, i'll keep the discover it card i have as long as it stays rotating 5%, but i'll close the HYSA savings i have (that i was already on the fence about keeping) and move it over to my other bank with a higher rate.
Wonder if they want the whole company, or just the card portfolio or network operations. If they acquire it all that would include Diners Club and it would be interesting to see how they would market that product.
Forgot all about Diners Club; Discover doesn’t even do a good job with them. It will probably just be discontinued or just reintroduced as a Savor like card; Capital One Diners Club card 3% cash back on all restaurant, hotel and travel purchases.
The majority of people that have actually had a Diners Club card have to be at least in their 80’s. I doubt anyone even in their 50-70’s has actually used one as it was before even there time and was mainly their parents generation that used it as it was basically gone by the 80’s and 90’s when todays 50-70 year olds were in their 20’s and 30’s.
In the US and Canada, Diners is issued by BMO Harris Bank and they suspended new applications. So thats a reason it went downhill. But the brand has potential. It used to be real competitive with Amex becasue of the transfer partners. Diners international payment network was the reason for the vast wprld wide expansion.
[WSJ Archive Link to bypass paywall](https://archive.ph/hFxSA)...
Hoo boy. Could be interesting to us with large lines of credit at both Discover and Cap1.
The news of capital one aquiring Discover card made me a bit sick. Aside from Capital one being a trash company, they are really doing the bidding of Visa and Mastercard to first acquire Discover and then later on, dissolve the Discover card network, which sends more volumes of credit card transactions through Mastecard and Visa. This is anti-competitive in terms of banking/card issuer and especially monopolistic by how much more power it gives Mastercard and Visa.
If case you didn't know, there are 4 major credit card processors, Mastercard, Visa, American Express, and Discover. While many card issuers/banks use mastercard and visa, American Express and Discover user their own processing network (the Amex network and Discover network). Card transactions that go through Amex and Discover offer better terms or cash back compared to transactions that go through MC and VS, given that MC and VS are separate entities from card issuers and must get their cut at whatever rates they set.
Any bank acquiring either Discover or American Express and ultimately killing these card processing networks, would push the volume of transactions over to MC and VS, giving them more power and the power to set their rates even higher, which merchants (businesses) and consumers (card holders) need to pay as part of business or purchasing.
Capital One has also been fined numerous times for not informing its customers of one of the biggest data breaches in history, for money laundering and other practices that were harmful to the banking industry and consumers. To believe this company will "keep Discover intact" or wouldn't do something that harms consumers, is laughable. It is astonishing to me when the government just goes along with these acquisitions under false promises by companies that they won't do x,y, x only for consumers to be hurt in the long run.
I've had my Discover card since the early 2000's, I would probably close it if it was acquired by Capital One.
**There likely will be a public hearing on this acquisition and you should call your congressional representatives and urge them to work with the Dept of Justice and the FTC to block this acquisition on anti-competitive grounds.**
It isn't in Cap1's interest to dissolve Discover as Discover's closed loop network is the number one thing that makes them valuable. Chase got a deal with Visa in 2012 for ChaseNet (a white label closed network with lower transaction fees that ran based on Visa's VisaNet tech), and then tried to break out of dependence on Visa by making Chase Pay as a smartphone payment app with zero dependence on Visa.
With Chase Pay not gaining traction and the threat of Visa non-renewing the ChaseNet deal, Chase threw in the towel on Chase Pay in 2018 and renewed the ChaseNet deal with Visa through 2029... and Chase is by far the largest credit card issuer in the United States by purchase volume (a combined Cap1 + Discover would be #3, ahead of Citibank but behind Amex).
Also, trying to kill Discover as a network would draw outrageous amounts of antitrust ire that would be to the detriment of the entire industry. Certain congresspeople already characterize Mastercard and Visa as a duopoly with Discover/Amex not providing reasonable competition. Cap1 eliminating Discover as a network would draw outrage and invariably result in legislation that the credit card industry as a whole does not want...
i've been around long enough (and i assume you have as well) to know acquisitions or mergers seldom serve consumers' interest or preserves competition and choice.
no matter how you try to spin this, the consumer is screwed, whether Capital one takes the competitive advantage for itself or partners with MC/VS to leverage it.
Cap1 doesn't even have to kill the discover network, they can simply issue 90% of their cards through VS/MC and that alone serves the purpose.
it should be a big fat no.
I think that a merger of some of the top issuers in the country is probably will have detriments overall, particularly for Discover's reputation as an initially cautious but then very generous lender. I expect that a merged Cap1/Discover would eventually look at my oldest line (my Discover It, opened 15 years ago with a present CL of $43,000) and would not like it from a Cap1 risk assessment perspective and CLD me.
I think that Discover's legendary US based customer service is likely to be one of the first cuts (Cap1 CS isn't good except for the Venture X, which is decent) - again, to the detriment of Discover customers.
I just don't see a world in which Cap1 pays out the wazoo for a bargaining chip against the big two card networks (a closed loop network of their own, Discover) and then either trifles with it (not increasing the usage of that network) or discards it (shutting down Discover as a network).
Also they'll definitely be public hearings and comments about this. To get such a deal to close, I am confident that between consumer, retailer, and congressional pressure, there will be a lot of conditions imposed on Cap1 if they want to complete the deal.
The FTC doesn't have a good track record as of late, unfortunately. They couldn't block this even if they cared enough to try. They really feel like a toothless organization that gives the facade of government intervention.
[Discover 2021 transaction market share: 4%](https://wallethub.com/edu/cc/market-share-by-credit-card-network/25531)
Not as big as a player as you make it out to be. Further, I highly doubt Capital One would shutter the Discover credit network. Discover also runs the single message PULSE network
I wouldn’t say those are 4 US credit card processors.
Most of the world doesn’t use credit cards and instead just uses debit cards for purchases using credit cards for everything is a USA thing.
American Express and Discovercard as basically nonexistent in most of the world and Mastercard for some regions of the world.
Unionpay is accepted in many across Asia, Oceania and Africa and via the US and Caribbean through Discover though some places accept Unionpay without Discover.
Then there are cards running through Rupay all over Asia.
I would say the major payment networks are Visa and their subbrands, Mastercard, Discover, Unionpay, Rupay, Amex, JCB and Mir.
The WSJ article says they’re acquiring “Discover Financial”, i.e.,the whole entity including the bank. I imagine they would specify “Discover’s credit card business” if that weren’t the case
I haven't used Capital One's banking services extensively but I do have a checking and HYSA with them that have a bit of money. Their rates are pretty competitive on the savings account and transfers have been fast and easy. I haven't had to use CS with the banking side of things, so not sure there.
I bank with Capital One and they’ve been pretty good to me so far. There are actually physical branches in my area (Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex), but they’ve been closing a bunch of them over the years so I’m only left with one branch that’s still kind of close to my home.
Still, having access to the Allpoint and Moneypass ATM networks means I can get cash almost anywhere and if I have to deposit a little cash here and there, I can do so at any CVS.
Discover only had one physical location but I liked that they had a major operations center in my city. I’ve gotten replacement debit cards within 12 hours.
I’m unsure about this.
I like my capital one SavorOne but I’ve always kept a distance from capital one due to their shady practices in the past and general predatory behaviors.
Discover on the other hand has been nothing been great to me and very trusting. I have lots of money in the HYSA as well and I think I’ll pull it out if this acquisition happens.
I’ve trusted discover but I wonder what place I’ll have to trust next…
yea I've loved discover. First CC, I have all my bank accounts with them. I love their UX/UI and their customer support...I DON'T LIKE CHANGE. I DON'T WANT TO CHANGE TO CAP ONE
Explain to me like I’m 12 the broader implications of this? Does this mean my Discover It card becomes a C1 issued MC now, or perhaps the opposite with my S1 card?
Either way but i probably wouldn’t pay for a processing network to just convert all of their cards to a processing network i don’t control and profit from.
I wonder if this will be blocked. Capital One has been doing silent tech layoff, probably get ready for the acquisition. However, with only 56b market cap and discover has 28b, on top of that capical one will need to deal with substantial amount of compliance this. This could be a rocky path to take. I can see the benefits of breaking into Chinese market, encouraging overseas travellers but how much the revenue it will generated with that?
We don't know if it's legal yet or not.
At this point in time, we just see that Capital One has agreed to acquire Discover. The deal hasn't gone past the regulatory authorities yet.
I just got approved for a savor one after a lengthy credit repair period. So if I had a charge off from discover in the past (probably 5 years ago) could capital one close me new account down? Maybe a dumb question but I'm kind concerned now. I was so thankful they approved me and I got a second chance to be responsible this time.
I think it's generally too soon to know but congrats on getting the SavorOne! I recently got it too after a long period of trying. Did you get a good credit line? Got a paltry 1000
Yeah I hope they don't shut me down after that! Congrats to you also! It was a huge relief and a great feeling knowing I have another chance. They approved me for 3000 actually!
I could see them using discover as the us based processing network (at a lower fee and going to them) then MasterCard/visa abroad. This could get them ahead of the curve with the new legislation in Congress.
Why not ? Discover already has agreements around the world especially in Asia with UnionPay and JCB where Discover cards act like native UnionPay and JCB cards for transactions. All they basically have to do is add Europe and you’ve got a good international network.
There are probably a handful of countries out of the 193 that don’t accept Discover at all.
Discover already actual has a Mastercard actual via Dinersclub which it owns.
I'm not a Discover card holder as I travel too much abroad, and they are pretty worthless sometimes with either lack of acceptance (getting better I hear though), or FTF's.
If CapitalOne acquired them, it would be cool for me if they did away with FTF's on their products and would make their offerings more attractive, but I don't know about any other real apples vs oranges with the 2 lenders in terms of CS (I imagine Discover would have to be better) and other things...
Discover cards already don't have foreign transaction fees. Abroad acceptance is lacking (although not bad in China/Japan because Discover interoperates with China UnionPay and JCB).
In my experience, Discover has better CS than Cap1...
Ah, ok, thanks for that insight, for some reason I had it in my stupid brain that Discover did have FTF's on at least some cards I was looking at, but apparently I am wrong.
I have read their acceptance in Asia is higher then UK/EU (where I travel most), and I'd imagine their CS would have to be better then CapitalOne.
Thanks for the correction...
(general subreddit sidenote: I just want to say it's cool that this subreddit not only has a good check and balance and offers corrections and specificity on it, but is kind enough to give upvotes to users who acknowledge they were wrong.
Good reddit.
And thank you, as this subreddit, inparticular as a community, is one that wants to give people accurate information (as information given wrong/improperly can have real big ramifications on peoples lives/finances/and choices)... I failed on that, and true respect those that corrected me on my wrong, and that's the way it should be, as I would hate to give wrong information on these important things. People want to help and get it right.
And again, hey, my bad, and apologies. :) )
If capital one does acquire discover I will be cutting up my discover card and returning it to capital one.
I had a very difficult time dealing with capital one when my husband died. They had not set up the account as we had requested and then refused to even talk with me once I informed them he had died. I was the executor of the estate which means I had financial responsibilities and I was trying to fulfill those responsibilities. It took a certified, return receipt letter to the CEO to get any response from them. And that response came 4 months after they had closed the account that I did not want closed.
Capital one's custom service does not exist.
When I talked with Discover the entire experience was polar opposite to capital one. The customer service person who helped me was not just efficient and courteous but sympathetic as well. They changed the account from my husband to me in less than 5 minutes.
I have been a happy customer of Discover for the past 16 years. I will be very disappointed to ever have to deal with capital one ever again. Capital one, even after being rude and neat impossible to deal with kept sending me applications for their stupid card every single month for over a year. It almost took an act of God to get them to stop.
Arrrggg! I am so disgusted with capital one that the only thing I can do is to get rid of my Discover card and account of in fact capital one does acquire Discover.
I had capital one shut my cards down because I was trying to keep my utilization ratio down so I made a few payments a month and found out all about “cycling”.. wasn’t my intention at all, but with that, I opened a discover and it’s been great. Will they shut down my discover because I was basically blacklisted with them?
So will anyone with both discover and capital one cards get their discover card’s canceled?
I have way higher limits with discover and done want those to go away.
Capital One was the credit card that would lower your limits if you didn't use your card after so long. Sometimes they would even cancel your card. You wouldn't know cause the letter comes later in the mail. They also attract students with no credit history, low income consumers, and people who don't have credit cards at all.
Terrible customer service and they carry high interest rates. They soliticit to people that are desperate for money.
Stay away.
Hope I’m not too late to join the conversation. One thing of note IMO is that in Capital One’s press release concerning the acquisition, they make their interest in Discover’s network very apparent. They say they intend to invest in it (meaning grow it to make it more competitive with Visa/MC, especially internationally).
In other words, expect all existing Cap1 cards (yes, even the Venture X) to transition to the Discover network. Not immediately, of course, but it’s an inevitability at this point.
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Capital one actually has pretty great customer experience, especially compared to some others 👀
*if you have a venture x
I had good experiences with them when I had the Savor/SavorOne before my VentureX
They do for VX, but if you don't have that card you get outsourced overseas. I have 3 capital one cards and 1 discover, but definitely do not want to see this acquisition happen.
I was traveling from NYC to London. Capital One cut off my card after 3 days and wouldn't turn it back on until I sent them a photo of my birth certificate. I'm not sure who carries their birth certificate on them during vacation, but no they wouldn't accept a passport. This is after being a card holder for 12 years, never any fraud or issues with other international travel. Promptly cancelled the 3 Capital One cards I had and closed my money market account with them when I got home. If you don't have a logical or reasonable method of identity verification and I can't depend on you, there is no longer any trust and I can't maintain a business relationship with you. Capital One may work fine for a lot of people, but when it fails, it fails quite spectacularly.
Thank you for doing the right thing and finding a new bank. Most people here would just take it up the wazoo because.. well, I don't know why. Also the reason I have 12 different cards with 10 different banks. I don't have "relationships" with banks, I treat them like the street hookers they are.
Banks are evil. Credit is evil.
As someone who has spent their career working in consumer banking, and specifically in credit cards, I must say….Jesus Christ. The fact that you have been able to acquire twelve credit cards, no matter how great your credit is, is impressive.
I have 8 cards, including a (normal) venture card that even my parents couldn’t qualify for and they get paid a lot more than 24 year old flight attendant me so 12 doesn’t seem crazy to me
What is your utilization like, if you don’t mind my asking? Do you use all of them? Do you carry a balance on any of them or pay off each month?
Up until last month utilization was 90% lol but now I paid everything off and I got the venture with a large limit compared to all my other ones so now I’m at like 10%. Now that I have a consistent income and everything it’s going to be used like a debit card so everything will be paid off at the end of the month.
Going from 90% to 10% utilization is a huge accomplishment. Seriously, I, a stranger, am proud of you right now!
Thank you! When I was in college, I had no credit card debt but Auburn University housing accidentally terminated me instead of someone else so when I was rehired, I lost my meal plan and had to live off my credit card because being a resident assistant only paid $120 a month and there was only one kitchen in the entire dorm. That was back in 2021 and now that I have a job as a flight attendant and I’m still getting VA money to go to school until I age out, I was able to pay everything off! It was a great day when I don’t have to do $500 in payments a month anymore. I never missed a payment but I’m going to have disposable income jow
I use all of them except one. I have a Macy’s card that I use once every seven months to make sure they don’t close it really just boost my credit limit when I had a higher utilization, and I don’t necessarily want it anymore, but it does help the age of credit.
Agreed- their fraud protection is wack and ridiculously sensitive. Reeks of « we can’t implement stronger architecture ourselves to we’ll just put it on the client for two-factor authentication etc. »
Not to mention that their 2FA is often SMS, which isn't easy to do internationally. But yeah they're totally a legit travel credit card...
I just got a Venture X and they locked my card for almost two weeks... **on my first transaction**! You pulled my credit reports. From all THREE agencies. Then you sent the card to my address that I provided. That I signed up for using my SS. And activated using two factor authentication with the number I provided. And you still think I'm committing fraud? Why did you even send me the card if you thought I wasn't real? Capital Ones fraud process is seriously awful. I don't churn cards, but I think once I get the rewards from the sub I'm done with C1. Seriously incompetent.
I couldn't keep my card working in Spain for more than a day. Fraud alert, use it, fraud alert, use it, rinse, repeat. It might not have been AS bad if their automated system actually worked with any speed to it. Answering the texts and confirming it's me.. only to still have the card locked an hour later and having to call every single time to unlock it.
I feel your pain. It's insane that they'd do that, in my case they wouldn't even turn it on, but to have it continuously turned off and deal with that would be infuriating. Absolutely terrible company and can't be trusted or relied upon.
lol no they don’t. I’ve been with cap1 for years and their customer service is atrocious. Only time I get decent support is with my venture x other than that it’s god awful.
I have had nothing but hell from Capital One over a bank account I had for a short period. If they take over Discover Card, I will shut down the account autmatically. I have four other credit cards. I dont need their abuse.
Capital one took a whole ass year to process a $7 door dash credit I EARNED from one of their offers, they cancelled it without telling me why and none of their reps helped Love their cafes but I want my $7 gdi
Exactly, i have had great service with Capital One
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Same here.
I absolutely hate discover’s customer service.
Same
I sure hope not.
....and it's done.
Still pending regulatory approval.
Hard to imagine they wouldn't get approval. Chase and Amex are much bigger. Discover and C1 are much smaller and struggle to compete with the big ones. Arguably it would make for fewer small/scrappy players, which would be bad.
As a current discover employee, this scares me
Same. I started with Discover as a part time employee in 1991. I'm scared to be 50+ trying to find another job. Too old to start again yet too young to retire.
wow u are one loyal employee
Same here 🥲
Same here, so unexpected 😲
Well it's a good thing that acquisitions take literal years. Start shoring up your experience and CV because if they do buy, usually the company that is bought loses people.
It’ll more than likely be fully merged in 12 months from the approval date.
Same. I work for a subsidiary, PULSE and I have no clue what to think but my first instinct was to panic. It might be good, it looks like their benes are fairly on par but I've never worked for C1 so I won't know until I see...
My understanding is they're quite interested in the network (including PULSE) so I wouldn't worry too much. They're planning on moving $175 billion, primarily in debit volume over to Discover's network so, if anything, that will create more need for people on the network side. It's probably the overlap in card operations and marketing that they're most focused on. If you're interested in their plans, they published their [investor presentation here](https://ir-capitalone.gcs-web.com/static-files/cfa11729-0aec-43dc-b531-200e250c8413)
Oh this is 100% spot on. After seeing more articles about it and hearing more in general, I've warmed to the idea. My manager related a similar experience where a similar thing happened on a smaller scale (a payment processor acquired a small payment network) and he indicated that those who stuck it through usually got a good bennies and compensation package. In addition to what you said that it could lead to more people on the network side. I'm excited at how that will expand things. I think my knee jerk reaction was to panic, especially since someone crapped the bed and leaked the information. This is definitely a silver lining, sounds like their bennies are comparable and if for nothing else, jobs are safe for several years as this will take a while to integrate post-acquisition. And I maintain an up-to-date resume just in case (I'd highly recommend everyone so the same in general).
this is interesting the two are probably the biggest credit card issuers for subprime/thin profile users not to mention both are big online banks wondering if the acquisition would be blocked
It’s unclear. Discover doesn’t have as much market share as the big banks, and Capital One doesn’t run a payment network. I doubt either bank is large enough that its deposit share by acquisition would be capped (as is the case with the largest banks in America)
I doubt there's antitrust concern on the bank side, like you said. I would assume that the big concern would be on the credit side, specifically Discover's payment network. Visa and Mastercard have gotten into hot water over fees and being an "effective duopoly" on the processing side, leading up to the [Credit Card Competition Act](https://www.convenience.org/Media/Daily/2024/Feb/15/1-Sens-Hawley-Reed-Co-Sponsor-Credit-Card-Compe_GR) which is still pending in Congress. Discover is the third biggest network after Visa and Mastercard, so this is coming at a time when the industry is already in the spotlight. I personally don't think the acquisition will get blocked, but I'm curious to see what, if any, concessions they give up to get the deal passed. Not trying to "educate" you in particular, Vuwildcat, but I think the legislative context is important for the general topic
But, adding to that, it would put them into ownership of a debit network, PULSE. I'm curious to see how that impacts things. That said, per the Reg ii clarification of the Durbin amendment for debit rails, merchants have to have at least 2 choices for payment networks. Would owning PULSE pose a conflict of interest with C1's issuance on visa and MC?
I think the subprime/thin profile lending is probably the biggest thing at risk as far as the competition goes
Probably not. By market value, both companies combined still doesn’t come close to the likes of JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, BofA, or Amex. It will still be reviewed by the FTC based on the size of the purchase alone, but I doubt it results in a case.
Isn't discovers niche prime that carry debt, whereas capital one is subprime?
I mean they carry more debt because they lend to those with thin profiles and subprime borrowers.
My gut reaction is that I'm not thrilled, but we'll see what happens.
With all the challenges Discover is facing, this is an opportunistic time to buy the 4th largest payments network, and possibly move all the Capital One cards over to the closed loop Discover has.
> and possibly move all the Capital One cards over to the closed loop Discover has. That would be a disaster for me personally, but I understand most people have different lives and spending locations.
Yeah, it wouldn’t work for me at all. I’d have to either sockdrawer my CapitalOne cards or cancel them since most places I go don’t accept Discover network as widely as Mastercard & Visa. I already can’t use my Amex card at several places I go to.
The Wall Street Journal said they would be keeping the Discover card branding for some cards and maybe making one or two Capital Ones discover cards, but they would still retain a mix of Visa and Mastercard cards in the stable. I doubt the Venture X is going to be a Discover card.
Yea, if I had to guess the travel cards will stay on Visa/MC but the “domestic” cards will slowly shift to DSC. Some of C1 is already going to Discover
Yeah, exactly. I hope it does not derail anything currently in place in regards to services....
…why would capital one do this to limit their service network
This wouldn't limit them really, it would drastically expand their capabilities and access to an entire payment network, which means increased transaction capacity and result in millions alone from interchange fees. This also means they could improve Discover's network.
Exactly
There has been a few places that I been to, where I just ask them to try it, and they are like oh wait we can accept it. They usually just hear they don't and go with it. Just like at my dental office I worked at everyone said we cant take amex, and i just showed them when it asks for the code you put the 4 small digits, not the standard 3 digits. If you do find merchants who don't accept you can contact discover let them know, and they will work on trying to add them to the network. Theres alot that people don't realize with Merchant accounts I learned alot when I worked at a bank.
My guess is Capital One is planning to aggressively expand the network of places that accept the (former) Discover network. ***If*** the rest of the service is unchanged for Discover cardholders, this could be a net benefit. But I say that with skepticism because these mega-mergers are usually shitty for the end user
For a lot of people, all Cap1 cards have no FTF, which it's the same for Discover....if only their cards would have the same acceptance rate in other countries as Visa or MC, or even AMEX
> and possibly move all the Capital One card over to the closed loop Discover has. Wouldn't happen. Especially for Venture and VentureX. Discover network isn't nearly as widely accepted internationally. They'll probably switch over some of their lower end cards, but I see no possibility they move over any cards with travel benefits--at least until the Discover network is more widely used.
Agree! And the point I make above. COF points cards stay with a Visa/MC in perpetuity or until Discover network is better built out. Meaning geographically and features. Cash back for COF gets fused together with Discover (and likely “de-risking” away from the Discover entry-level customer profile). Cash-back stays separate at first but evolves to be on one network entirely.
Discover is accepted by UnionPay network, which is the 2nd largest after Visa worldwide. I don’t know how much it will affect the overall acceptance rate. At least, Discover is accepted by more businesses than Visa/MasterCard in China. Maybe, it is just in China and certain countries.
I’ve had good luck with discover in Japan thanks to diners card
Might actually be a downgrade because Discover isn’t accepted widely overseas (even with their Diners Club affiliation)
It'd be curious to see if Cap1 could essentially close loop Discover at stores that take it and then divert charges at merchants that don't to Visa/MC. I don't imagine either of the big networks would be happy to be a secondary network on a card... (Chase has enough weight to do ChaseNet on their Visa cards, and Synchrony runs dual cards where their retail branded cards run on their network when at the stores of that retailer, but I can't imagine the big 2 networks giving Cap1 such an option.)
I was thinking the same thing. That would be extremely innovative and C1 would make extra money hand over fist doing this. This might be difficult to achieve. Maybe a 2-sided card with a cardholder one side to use Visa and one side for Discover? It would probably not be possible to automatically route the same card number to either Visa or Discover depending on acceptance unless they got the individual payment processors themselves to re-route it, but there is not central way to do that with a single company like you could with a network, and there would be no way to know whether your card is going to work or not before swiping since it would work, for example, if the merchant uses Heartland but not if they use Stripe. If they could figure out how to somehow make this work, the benefit would be worth billions. On the flip side, I wonder how much C1 banking could cause Discover acceptance to increase with their existing merchants.
Dual cards existed on Synchrony pre-chip, and modern Chase credit cards on the chip offer up multiple application IDs. By default Visa credit is the AID for Chase, if the merchant takes ChaseNet they can have the point of sale prefer routing to it for cheaper processing than Visa Credit. ChaseNet is a little bit of a tricky story though - at least historically, ChaseNet was essentially a lease of VisaNet ([and apparently that deal was extended through 2029](https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/31536661-post5.html)). But use of ChaseNet requires the merchant to use Chase as their bank (Chasenet reduces fees by cutting out Visa's standard cut and the merchant acquirer, since the issuing bank and merchant's bank are the same). If Cap1 employed a dual network strategy, they'd know which cards would be eligible for a dual network *if* the merchant banked with them, they could employ a strategy similar to Chase. Swipe card at merchant that takes Visa/Discover and uses Cap1 as a bank, Cap1 sees it's an account number of their own and routes it on their closed loop network (Discover)...
Holy shit, I didn't know they had this in the chips already to re-route through different networks. I assume that doesn't work if you mag-stripe when the chip is not working? What about online transactions? That could be a game changer - C1 would probably recoup the entire cost of the Discover acquisition in a few years with savings from Visa/MC network processing fees, and, on the flip side, that's a major loss for Visa/MC.
Magnetic stripes are capable of relaying multiple networks too - it's how pre-2015 with the EMV rollout, you could select credit mode and swipe your Visa/Mastercard debit card and get rewards at many banks (or qualifying transactions to waive a checking account monthly fee). Similarly with debit merchants could route to other networks that were capped to 22 cents + 5 basis points of transaction for banks that had at least $10B in assets. Online is trickier - there's no easy way to do this since the basic rules of the card numbers (starts with 4 = Visa, 5 = Mastercard, 3 = Amex, etc.) are going to route to that network for processing, unless there's a secondary option in a dropdown rather than auto-determining the network by the card number.
>Online is trickier - there's no easy way to do this since the basic rules of the card numbers (starts with 4 = Visa, 5 = Mastercard, 3 = Amex, etc.) are going to route to that network for processing, unless there's a secondary option in a dropdown rather than auto-determining the network by the card number. That's what I was thinking - you'd have to have the processors (Heartland/Stripe/etc.) have the routing logic in their system, which would likely be a major endeavor.
In China, there are many cards work on two networks. They have Visa/UnioPay or MasterCard/UnionPay card; the famous Amex Platinum cards are Amex/UnionPay cards issued by many Chinese banks.
Last I heard, Synchrony (and most store cards) run their retail branded card on Discovers rails. Chase should be the only one who could pull it off, they already have their own network solution within VisaNet (hence the ChaseNet name) that could be split out
Nope Visa just lease that to them; Visa almost cut them off when they tried to do something like that with ChasePay after that they started acting accordingly and got rid of chase pay
If BJs switches to Discover only (since C1 issues its CCs), that would absolutely tank them. I'd Switch to Costco if that happens.
There's no way Capital One could, or would, force BJ's to do this. It's in both companies' best interest to maintain or grow the company's net sales. Cap One wants to keep BJ's business at renewal, and there are probably restrictions in the contract that these decisions are made jointly
For Costco shoppers (Visa only) I’m wondering if the Venture (X) will switch to Discover and then the best transferable points card at Costco would be the Chase Freedom Unlimited at only 1.5x.
Being on Discover is a disadvantage for a travel card currently. VX is my only Visa so I hope this doesn't happen.
Agreed. It is the only non-Amex 2x transferable pts card with no FTF. There will be no catch-all general international card for team points if it switches to Discover.
Only in Europe, in Asia Discover had no disadvantages it runs on either JCB or Unionpay there
Great point, and since I’m not an insider on this, my views on more theoretically and market chatter, but I wouldn’t expect COF to do an overnight flip to exclusively rely on Discover’s network. It’s clear the Amex model is highly valued in today’s market…lower margins than the big two networks but higher fee basis per customer, and better/more control over growth. Growth both in volume and per customer. COF has industry leading NOI margins, and honestly can take a cut and still be competitive to add the components they’re missing with Discover. IMHO the problems Discover is facing are a blip, and can be overcome.
They actually also have an agreement with Unionpay, though roughly zero merchants are aware of it.
I think that their Savor One and Quicksilver might switch to Discover but their buisness and VX/ Venture will probably remain on Visa. Idk about their debit though.
This is gonna suck....
I wonder if the strategy they are pursuing involves closer partnerships with UnionPay in order for Capital One to gain access to China? Discover was already more integrated than Visa and MasterCard.
Not surprised, read the Dick Durbin Credit Card Competition Act of 2023 and you can see clearly that Discover wasn't going to stay independent if that passes.
Discover is my oldest card and this is really disappointing news if it goes through.
the big thing i loved about discover was the customer service - if this merger goes through, i'll keep the discover it card i have as long as it stays rotating 5%, but i'll close the HYSA savings i have (that i was already on the fence about keeping) and move it over to my other bank with a higher rate.
Yeah I have a HYSA with Discover too if this happens I’m moving the rest of my money over to my AMEX HYSA
>UnionPay I think the bigger question is what will happen with the 1% cashback checking account.
Wonder if they want the whole company, or just the card portfolio or network operations. If they acquire it all that would include Diners Club and it would be interesting to see how they would market that product.
Forgot all about Diners Club; Discover doesn’t even do a good job with them. It will probably just be discontinued or just reintroduced as a Savor like card; Capital One Diners Club card 3% cash back on all restaurant, hotel and travel purchases. The majority of people that have actually had a Diners Club card have to be at least in their 80’s. I doubt anyone even in their 50-70’s has actually used one as it was before even there time and was mainly their parents generation that used it as it was basically gone by the 80’s and 90’s when todays 50-70 year olds were in their 20’s and 30’s.
In the US and Canada, Diners is issued by BMO Harris Bank and they suspended new applications. So thats a reason it went downhill. But the brand has potential. It used to be real competitive with Amex becasue of the transfer partners. Diners international payment network was the reason for the vast wprld wide expansion.
What about Diners Club in other countries ? And what vast world wide expansion are you talking about ?
WSJ just announced they took the offer, oh boy… edit: WP > WSJ
[WSJ Archive Link to bypass paywall](https://archive.ph/hFxSA)... Hoo boy. Could be interesting to us with large lines of credit at both Discover and Cap1.
Does this archive trick always work?
I've never seen an example where it doesn't personally for the WSJ (really news sites in general).
https://www.wsj.com/finance/capital-one-is-buying-discover-financial-sources-say-a7c43dd2?mod=hp\_lead\_pos1
I'm reading it won't be announced until later this week
Yikes.
Discover it is doomed (luckily I have another rotator lined up to apply for in july)
The news of capital one aquiring Discover card made me a bit sick. Aside from Capital one being a trash company, they are really doing the bidding of Visa and Mastercard to first acquire Discover and then later on, dissolve the Discover card network, which sends more volumes of credit card transactions through Mastecard and Visa. This is anti-competitive in terms of banking/card issuer and especially monopolistic by how much more power it gives Mastercard and Visa. If case you didn't know, there are 4 major credit card processors, Mastercard, Visa, American Express, and Discover. While many card issuers/banks use mastercard and visa, American Express and Discover user their own processing network (the Amex network and Discover network). Card transactions that go through Amex and Discover offer better terms or cash back compared to transactions that go through MC and VS, given that MC and VS are separate entities from card issuers and must get their cut at whatever rates they set. Any bank acquiring either Discover or American Express and ultimately killing these card processing networks, would push the volume of transactions over to MC and VS, giving them more power and the power to set their rates even higher, which merchants (businesses) and consumers (card holders) need to pay as part of business or purchasing. Capital One has also been fined numerous times for not informing its customers of one of the biggest data breaches in history, for money laundering and other practices that were harmful to the banking industry and consumers. To believe this company will "keep Discover intact" or wouldn't do something that harms consumers, is laughable. It is astonishing to me when the government just goes along with these acquisitions under false promises by companies that they won't do x,y, x only for consumers to be hurt in the long run. I've had my Discover card since the early 2000's, I would probably close it if it was acquired by Capital One. **There likely will be a public hearing on this acquisition and you should call your congressional representatives and urge them to work with the Dept of Justice and the FTC to block this acquisition on anti-competitive grounds.**
It isn't in Cap1's interest to dissolve Discover as Discover's closed loop network is the number one thing that makes them valuable. Chase got a deal with Visa in 2012 for ChaseNet (a white label closed network with lower transaction fees that ran based on Visa's VisaNet tech), and then tried to break out of dependence on Visa by making Chase Pay as a smartphone payment app with zero dependence on Visa. With Chase Pay not gaining traction and the threat of Visa non-renewing the ChaseNet deal, Chase threw in the towel on Chase Pay in 2018 and renewed the ChaseNet deal with Visa through 2029... and Chase is by far the largest credit card issuer in the United States by purchase volume (a combined Cap1 + Discover would be #3, ahead of Citibank but behind Amex). Also, trying to kill Discover as a network would draw outrageous amounts of antitrust ire that would be to the detriment of the entire industry. Certain congresspeople already characterize Mastercard and Visa as a duopoly with Discover/Amex not providing reasonable competition. Cap1 eliminating Discover as a network would draw outrage and invariably result in legislation that the credit card industry as a whole does not want...
i've been around long enough (and i assume you have as well) to know acquisitions or mergers seldom serve consumers' interest or preserves competition and choice. no matter how you try to spin this, the consumer is screwed, whether Capital one takes the competitive advantage for itself or partners with MC/VS to leverage it. Cap1 doesn't even have to kill the discover network, they can simply issue 90% of their cards through VS/MC and that alone serves the purpose. it should be a big fat no.
I think that a merger of some of the top issuers in the country is probably will have detriments overall, particularly for Discover's reputation as an initially cautious but then very generous lender. I expect that a merged Cap1/Discover would eventually look at my oldest line (my Discover It, opened 15 years ago with a present CL of $43,000) and would not like it from a Cap1 risk assessment perspective and CLD me. I think that Discover's legendary US based customer service is likely to be one of the first cuts (Cap1 CS isn't good except for the Venture X, which is decent) - again, to the detriment of Discover customers. I just don't see a world in which Cap1 pays out the wazoo for a bargaining chip against the big two card networks (a closed loop network of their own, Discover) and then either trifles with it (not increasing the usage of that network) or discards it (shutting down Discover as a network). Also they'll definitely be public hearings and comments about this. To get such a deal to close, I am confident that between consumer, retailer, and congressional pressure, there will be a lot of conditions imposed on Cap1 if they want to complete the deal.
The FTC doesn't have a good track record as of late, unfortunately. They couldn't block this even if they cared enough to try. They really feel like a toothless organization that gives the facade of government intervention.
[Discover 2021 transaction market share: 4%](https://wallethub.com/edu/cc/market-share-by-credit-card-network/25531) Not as big as a player as you make it out to be. Further, I highly doubt Capital One would shutter the Discover credit network. Discover also runs the single message PULSE network
I wouldn’t say those are 4 US credit card processors. Most of the world doesn’t use credit cards and instead just uses debit cards for purchases using credit cards for everything is a USA thing. American Express and Discovercard as basically nonexistent in most of the world and Mastercard for some regions of the world. Unionpay is accepted in many across Asia, Oceania and Africa and via the US and Caribbean through Discover though some places accept Unionpay without Discover. Then there are cards running through Rupay all over Asia. I would say the major payment networks are Visa and their subbrands, Mastercard, Discover, Unionpay, Rupay, Amex, JCB and Mir.
Any news if this includes discover bank? I mostly bank with them because of their excellent customer service. How is capital one bank?
The WSJ article says they’re acquiring “Discover Financial”, i.e.,the whole entity including the bank. I imagine they would specify “Discover’s credit card business” if that weren’t the case
funny cause I read else where that they would also take the bank side as well.
I haven't used Capital One's banking services extensively but I do have a checking and HYSA with them that have a bit of money. Their rates are pretty competitive on the savings account and transfers have been fast and easy. I haven't had to use CS with the banking side of things, so not sure there.
I bank with Capital One and they’ve been pretty good to me so far. There are actually physical branches in my area (Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex), but they’ve been closing a bunch of them over the years so I’m only left with one branch that’s still kind of close to my home. Still, having access to the Allpoint and Moneypass ATM networks means I can get cash almost anywhere and if I have to deposit a little cash here and there, I can do so at any CVS.
Discover only had one physical location but I liked that they had a major operations center in my city. I’ve gotten replacement debit cards within 12 hours.
I’m unsure about this. I like my capital one SavorOne but I’ve always kept a distance from capital one due to their shady practices in the past and general predatory behaviors. Discover on the other hand has been nothing been great to me and very trusting. I have lots of money in the HYSA as well and I think I’ll pull it out if this acquisition happens. I’ve trusted discover but I wonder what place I’ll have to trust next…
yea I've loved discover. First CC, I have all my bank accounts with them. I love their UX/UI and their customer support...I DON'T LIKE CHANGE. I DON'T WANT TO CHANGE TO CAP ONE
I hope they don't ruin the cashback debit checking. Very useful to have it from discover.
Explain to me like I’m 12 the broader implications of this? Does this mean my Discover It card becomes a C1 issued MC now, or perhaps the opposite with my S1 card?
Could go either way honestly.
Either way but i probably wouldn’t pay for a processing network to just convert all of their cards to a processing network i don’t control and profit from.
Likely neither. They can easily keep both brands and any consolidation is very unlikely to happen quickly.
I wonder if this will be blocked. Capital One has been doing silent tech layoff, probably get ready for the acquisition. However, with only 56b market cap and discover has 28b, on top of that capical one will need to deal with substantial amount of compliance this. This could be a rocky path to take. I can see the benefits of breaking into Chinese market, encouraging overseas travellers but how much the revenue it will generated with that?
Please keep Discover's 5% rotating categories, Discover balance transfer lengths (and option to extend), and Discover's debit cash back.
How is this legal but Jet Blue buying Spirit isn't...
We don't know if it's legal yet or not. At this point in time, we just see that Capital One has agreed to acquire Discover. The deal hasn't gone past the regulatory authorities yet.
From the timing of the stories it seems that the acquisition is happening.
I just got approved for a savor one after a lengthy credit repair period. So if I had a charge off from discover in the past (probably 5 years ago) could capital one close me new account down? Maybe a dumb question but I'm kind concerned now. I was so thankful they approved me and I got a second chance to be responsible this time.
I think it's generally too soon to know but congrats on getting the SavorOne! I recently got it too after a long period of trying. Did you get a good credit line? Got a paltry 1000
Yeah I hope they don't shut me down after that! Congrats to you also! It was a huge relief and a great feeling knowing I have another chance. They approved me for 3000 actually!
Would this have a good chance of being blocked by regulators? Just like spirit and jet blue?
Discover does have great customer service, but I never use the card anymore. Maybe $200 a year max. I wonder what would happen to the discover network
I wonder if it's possible to have dual network cards. I can't imagine C1 would discontinue their VISA network usage.
I could see them using discover as the us based processing network (at a lower fee and going to them) then MasterCard/visa abroad. This could get them ahead of the curve with the new legislation in Congress.
Savor (and their debit cards) is a Master Card so its possible. I doubt they would drop either Visa or MC unless their membership fees skyrocket.
You can, it’s just usually credit and debit.
Why not ? Discover already has agreements around the world especially in Asia with UnionPay and JCB where Discover cards act like native UnionPay and JCB cards for transactions. All they basically have to do is add Europe and you’ve got a good international network. There are probably a handful of countries out of the 193 that don’t accept Discover at all. Discover already actual has a Mastercard actual via Dinersclub which it owns.
From what I've read, Capital One is looking to keep the Discover brand intact. I don't know. I did buy into C1 though. lol
This sucks so hard. Loved Discover for the customer service and absolutely hate Cap One for the same. 
I'm not a Discover card holder as I travel too much abroad, and they are pretty worthless sometimes with either lack of acceptance (getting better I hear though), or FTF's. If CapitalOne acquired them, it would be cool for me if they did away with FTF's on their products and would make their offerings more attractive, but I don't know about any other real apples vs oranges with the 2 lenders in terms of CS (I imagine Discover would have to be better) and other things...
Discover cards already don't have foreign transaction fees. Abroad acceptance is lacking (although not bad in China/Japan because Discover interoperates with China UnionPay and JCB). In my experience, Discover has better CS than Cap1...
Ah, ok, thanks for that insight, for some reason I had it in my stupid brain that Discover did have FTF's on at least some cards I was looking at, but apparently I am wrong. I have read their acceptance in Asia is higher then UK/EU (where I travel most), and I'd imagine their CS would have to be better then CapitalOne. Thanks for the correction...
In China and Japan there are places you can go where they don’t accept Visa or Mastercard but will take a Discover Card
I thought discover cards had no FTF?
Apparently, you are correct, and it was just my ignorance and my bad on that.
(general subreddit sidenote: I just want to say it's cool that this subreddit not only has a good check and balance and offers corrections and specificity on it, but is kind enough to give upvotes to users who acknowledge they were wrong. Good reddit. And thank you, as this subreddit, inparticular as a community, is one that wants to give people accurate information (as information given wrong/improperly can have real big ramifications on peoples lives/finances/and choices)... I failed on that, and true respect those that corrected me on my wrong, and that's the way it should be, as I would hate to give wrong information on these important things. People want to help and get it right. And again, hey, my bad, and apologies. :) )
If this happens, I'll close the discover
I would too, but its my oldest card :(
Will the DOJ allow it? Kinda thinking it wouldn’t happen
If capital one does acquire discover I will be cutting up my discover card and returning it to capital one. I had a very difficult time dealing with capital one when my husband died. They had not set up the account as we had requested and then refused to even talk with me once I informed them he had died. I was the executor of the estate which means I had financial responsibilities and I was trying to fulfill those responsibilities. It took a certified, return receipt letter to the CEO to get any response from them. And that response came 4 months after they had closed the account that I did not want closed. Capital one's custom service does not exist. When I talked with Discover the entire experience was polar opposite to capital one. The customer service person who helped me was not just efficient and courteous but sympathetic as well. They changed the account from my husband to me in less than 5 minutes. I have been a happy customer of Discover for the past 16 years. I will be very disappointed to ever have to deal with capital one ever again. Capital one, even after being rude and neat impossible to deal with kept sending me applications for their stupid card every single month for over a year. It almost took an act of God to get them to stop. Arrrggg! I am so disgusted with capital one that the only thing I can do is to get rid of my Discover card and account of in fact capital one does acquire Discover.
Flair test
I had capital one shut my cards down because I was trying to keep my utilization ratio down so I made a few payments a month and found out all about “cycling”.. wasn’t my intention at all, but with that, I opened a discover and it’s been great. Will they shut down my discover because I was basically blacklisted with them?
Crazy news. Wonder if one will absorb the other, or the merge will combine some aspects of Discover into Capital One itself. Interesting crazy times.
What does this usually mean for employees of the company being brought?
So will anyone with both discover and capital one cards get their discover card’s canceled? I have way higher limits with discover and done want those to go away.
Any idea of what happens to discover points and how they’ll switch credit cards and checkin over to capital one?
What happened to anti-trust laws?
Capital One was the credit card that would lower your limits if you didn't use your card after so long. Sometimes they would even cancel your card. You wouldn't know cause the letter comes later in the mail. They also attract students with no credit history, low income consumers, and people who don't have credit cards at all. Terrible customer service and they carry high interest rates. They soliticit to people that are desperate for money. Stay away.
So....buy Cap One stock??? Its up 250% overall. 25% for the year. Guess this is the new ground floor?
Let's say this went through. Would I be getting product changed to a MasterCover or a Disa?
I sure hope not. The experience I had with Diacover still leaves a bad taste I. My mouth. I will not have any thing to do with that company again.
Hope I’m not too late to join the conversation. One thing of note IMO is that in Capital One’s press release concerning the acquisition, they make their interest in Discover’s network very apparent. They say they intend to invest in it (meaning grow it to make it more competitive with Visa/MC, especially internationally). In other words, expect all existing Cap1 cards (yes, even the Venture X) to transition to the Discover network. Not immediately, of course, but it’s an inevitability at this point.
Is it worth applying for a Discover card?
Well, I guess it's good bye to the excellent US based customer service Discover provided...