Discover Card

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Discover Financial Services logo and acceptance mark

The Discover Card is a credit card issued almost exclusively in the United States by Discover Financial Services . There are approximately 50 million cardholders. The Discover Card was originally launched by Sears in 1985. Discover was taken over in 1997 by Morgan Stanley , which brought Discover to the stock exchange in 2007. The Discover is headquartered in Riverwoods ( Illinois ).

Most Discover Cards are issued by Discover Bank , but payments are processed through the Discover Network. A Discover debit card has also been issued and accepted since February 2006 .

history

At the time Sears launched the Discover Card, Sears was the largest retailer in the United States.

The Discover Card was able to establish itself so well at the time because it offered better value for money than its competitors, especially Mastercard and Visa . It had no annual base price, offered a comparatively high credit line and was the first credit card to have a bonus program . In addition, you could only pay with the Discover Card in addition to cash in Sears stores.

Since Sears got more and more competition (e.g. from Wal-Mart ), they eventually had to accept other credit cards such as MasterCard and Visa. The crisis at Sears worsened until they sold their finance division in 1993.

The buyer was Dean Witter Financial Services , which in turn was bought by Morgan Stanley in 1997 . Morgan Stanley separated from Discover Card in 2007 and floated the company on the New York Stock Exchange .

Discover Card was convicted in 2012 by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation for misleading advertising to reimburse approximately $ 200 million in fees to more than 3.5 million customers. Discover Card also had to pay a $ 14 million fine.

acceptance

While there are over 50 million cardholders and more than four million merchants who accept the Discover Card, there are almost no locations outside the United States, with the exception of Mexico. Due to the membership in the Pulse network, however, the card is accepted by almost all ATMs worldwide. An alliance with China UnionPay has made the Discover acceptance network one of the largest internationally.

Others

Discover Financial Services issues a Mastercard in the UK under the name Morgan Stanley .

On July 1, 2008, Discover Financial took over the credit card company Diners Club from Citigroup for US $ 165 million .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ From revolutionizing warehousing to launching the Discover Card, Sears was the Amazon of its day. In: nbcnews.com. October 15, 2018, accessed October 1, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Jim Sinegal: Which business models defy the disruptive power of the blockchain. Accessed October 1, 2019 (German).
  3. ↑ Wolf Dean Stiles: Discover flying solo. Retrieved September 12, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Order Discover to Pay $ 200 Million Consumer Refund for Deceptive Marketing | Consumer Financial Protection Bureau . In: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau . ( consumerfinance.gov [accessed October 14, 2017]).
  5. ↑ Discover tops Mastercard, Visa as planet's most-accepted payment card | Mobile Payments Today. November 17, 2016, accessed November 6, 2018 .
  6. ^ Reuters: Discover Card Buys Citigroup's Diners Club . In: The New York Times . April 7, 2008, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed October 9, 2017]).