But this is an interesting acquisition. Capital One strikes me as a pretty well run org.
Why would they want Discover, who notoriously targets the low end of credit card custom? My guess is that this gives them the ability to increase margins by owning the entire payment layer all the way through distribution. If they slash the fees charged to merchants, this could make them quite a powerhouse.
I would assume primarily domestic cards (platinum, quicksilver, savor) will start being issued on the discover network, while travel cards (venture series) will not (initially) because of the high domestic and low international acceptance rate of Discover cards.
They also have some mutual acceptance agreements with JCB and China UnionPay and others. Just because there's no explicit Discover logo on a terminal/restaurant window doesn't mean a Discover card will actually not work.
It's not quite the reach of Visa or Mastercard, but international acceptance seems to be trending up.
I'm riding high on Cap1, personally.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_One#Investigations_a...
Could be just the cost of doing business, if that business' motto is "you either fuck someone over, or get fucked" or at least "you gotta hustle to survive".
I'm so tired of all those businesses out there.
It doesn't directly confirm or contradict your statement, but is relevant to the conversation.
I would also like to remind everyone to pay your credit card balance in full every month without fail, or you are giving your credit card issuer boatloads of money just for fun.
However, Discover is (largely; I believe at least Pulse is available to issuing banks other than Discover) also a three-party network, which is inherently exempt from the Durbin amendment: https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R41913
The effect of this is that merchants end up hating taking Amex since it costs more, and I foresee Discover (which is even more niche) ending up the same way - there will simply be no reason to bother accepting Discover at all. How many people only have a Discover debit card in their wallet and no other?
I shop for name brand stuff at Winco, a grocery chain in the Northwest US that doesn't take credit cards and makes you bag your own groceries. I'll be curious to see if they stop taking Discover debit cards if the fees increase.
Second, Capital One also targets low end (subprime), especially relative to Amex, Visa, etc.
That is certainly not the case. It's full of ex-Amazon managers that only want to pile on and then aggressively stack rank engineers to fire them. Heck they even do the whole hire someone to fire them.
> Why would they want Discover, who notoriously targets the low end of credit card custom?
More revenue and cheaper admin/labor costs since they're already in the space.
Business owners going to get gouged.
Customers going to see price of items go up as business owners pass along increased transaction costs.
Yes - this will also impact you even if you don’t have a discover/capital one card.
Better marketing around this would likely improve signups.
I've had one in my wallet since college; it has never been a primary card for me. But I recently needed to choose a new one and scrolled through the options on my phone. From the small photos, I chose something that looked like some sort of abstract painting. When it came in the mail, I realized that it was not a painting at all. It was way more interesting than I had imagined. And indeed, it is the only credit card I've ever had that has received compliments. Does that influence how often I pull it out of my wallet as opposed to the other cards in there? Perhaps...
From a competitive landscape, this is probably a good thing - Discover never really did much issuance of cards by other banks, and this means competition against Amex.
Really? For brick & mortar retail, my experience is pretty much only the major retailers accept it. Most small, local, or even regional retailers do not accept it.
I understand that the "Durbin Amendment" had something to do with this.
My only recent experiences with this with transactions over $10 was a small restaurant and a construction project where they took the deposit on a card but would charge a 3% fee if we didn't pay by check. Many of the local convenience stores charge a fee to use a card.
I do hope this merger doesn't degrade Discover since I've been very happy with them in pretty much every way (both bank and credit).
The exact opposite of what's happening.
https://fintechtakes.com/articles/2025-03-25/the-pay-by-bank...
https://20392958.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/203929... (page 4 specifically)
(work at a fintech, thoughts and opinions my own)
Discover and Capital One both had deposit-based credit cards for credit building, so that's what I started with.
Discover's customer support system was polished and felt like a small company. I'd always speak to a polite native English speaker. When I gave authentication information to the pre-call robot (like card number, name, exp date), the customer service rep could pull up that info instead of asking me to repeat it.
Also, my Discover card kept me up to date with it's upgrade status, eventually going from a $150 credit line to a $1500 automatically and predictably. And again going to a $2500 credit line without my intervention; just from making steady payments.
Capital One's customer support system was awful. It's outsourced and I can't always understand the rep who sometimes gets mad at me for it. Any authentication information I give to the pre-call robot, the rep will ask me for again. Even the dang credit card number that is hard to give to a human. "No, that's Two as in Todd, Four as in Forage..."
And the Capital One credit card I got 3 years ago is still at $150 credit line. Apparently I have to pester them to get the credit line upgrade that the card promises, but why bother with a crappy company when I have a $2500 Discover card and good enough credit to have gotten better cards since then?
But I guess it's no surprise that the worse company to work with is swallowing the pleasant company. Just imagine all that money Discover was wasting by being a pleasant experience, like having credit lines that upgrade automatically and a customer support rep that speaks the same language.
Similarly, I detest Capital One for a whole host of reasons.
Just last month I was looking to switch banks, read great things about Discover, only to realize they'd be absorbed soon. Hard pass.
I wish this deal were never approved. I can't see Discover going away, nor Capital One growing, as good things.
> the rep who sometimes gets mad at me for it
That's an ...unusual customer support experience.
> my Discover card kept me up to date with it's upgrade status
My capital one card does the same, it periodically requests updates to my income after which my credit line increases.
The only friction I experience with Capital One is the lack of physical presences. There are none in my entire region. That being said it is a great bank that never - and I mean never - has played games with auto-pay suddenly and silently failing at the due date (and incurring a late fee of course oopsies), or other annoyances I've had with Discover.
Capital One seems to have a much more modern tech stack: Their app is much more usable than most other banks' I've tried, and they're the only US credit card issuer I know of that actually supports 3DS without any ugly hacks that usually mean trouble when shopping at a foreign merchant that requires it. They also support a very neat authentication feature – tapping my credit or debit card on my phone – which I haven't seen with any other bank yet.
Let's see which tech stack and which customer support organization survives the merger, respectively...
- Discover was founded in 1985 (credit card only, by Sears) and began banking in 2006(?)
- Capital One was founded in 1994 (credit card only) and began banking in 2005
Legacy systems suck, especially if the parent company has underinvested in IT modernization for decades. Delta? Southwest? And younger companies don't have to deal with the pre-digital legacy pain of < ~1990 founded companies.
Is there a good wiki or database that tracks which issuers have good 3DS support?
Discover's credit card was a great idea, I feel. The cashback rewards I can earn at restaurants are great. The acceptance hasn't really been a barrier to spending, but unfortunately I cling to my Visa-based debit, "just in case" there are merchants who can't accept Discover -- what else would I do?
The lack of branches? No big deal, considering anything important can be done through their app or website. Which are very polished, attractive and functional. They don't even 2FA me from my Chromebook.
Their customer service is amazing. I mean, call in the middle of the night to a fluent English speaker who tells you where they're located?! They are so polite and patient! Best ever experience, really. In fact, my credit union's reps are really good too. It's a small blessing.
I did not need to open a Discover Checking account, and I can't remember why I did it, but I did. The Discover Bank debit card is different than their credit cards, and therefore acceptance may be even lower. I still get cashback rewards on it.
My finances are uncomplicated. I don't much enjoy dealing separately with two banks. I don't really need to. Except my credit union has no credit card to offer me, and Discover has no Visa to offer me. So I get along. We'll see how the Capital One thing goes.
Obligatory "Capital 1" related xkcd: https://m.xkcd.com/2206/
Probably once you had the increased available credit from Disco their models said giving you more was too much risk.
digdugdirk•5h ago
Have there been any other mergers in the past few months that slipped under the media radar? I honestly expected there would have been some deals waiting in the wings prior to the election just in case.
mindslight•5h ago
lxgr•4h ago
mindslight•4h ago
Admittedly I haven't kept up with new options in the past few years, but my main goal is stability for not having to redo all the setup so new startupy options are kind of inherently uninteresting.
xyst•5h ago
Anti-trust laws have been watered down so much or not applied.
This is all because of pseudoscience from neoclassical/neoliberal/reaganomics economic theory
gruez•5h ago
What's the Real Science™ then?
RunningDroid•4h ago
Monopolies and intense corporate consolidation are bad for everyone except shareholders and CEOs?