Credit Cards: Financial Services

The Discover Card is a major credit card, issued primarily in the United States. It was originally introduced by Sears in 1985, and was part of Dean Witter, and then Morgan Stanley, until 2007, when Discover Financial Services became an independent company. Novus, a major processing center, used to be partners with the company as well. The Novus logo has since been retired and now the Discover Network logo has replaced it.

Most cards with the Discover brand are issued by Discover Bank. Discover Card transactions are processed through the Discover Network payment network. As of February 2006, the company announced that it would begin offering Discover Debit cards to banks, made possible by the Pulse payment system, which Discover acquired in 2005.

CONTENTS

3.3.1. History
3.3.2. Business developments
3.3.3. Brand acceptance
3.3.4. Discover acquires Diners Club

Old Discover Card with Novus logo

In April 2008, Discover Financial Services and Citigroup announced that Discover was purchasing the Diners Club network from Citi for $165 million. In May 2008, the U.S. approved the transaction. The deal was completed on July 1, 2008. Discover stated that the Diners Club network, which is a major network outside North America, will be merged with the Discover Network, a major network in North America, creating an international network for Discover Network cards and Diners Club cards. Diners Club cards will continue to be issued by Diners Club International licensees, including Citibank. Discover Bank has no plans on issuing Diners Club branded cards itself. Discover only purchased the network, and not the licensees issuing the cards.

Card

Bank card
In general, a bank card refers to a plastic card issued by a bank and used to access funds from an account, such as:
• ATM card, a plastic card linked to one or many accounts, primarily for ATM usage but also useable at branches. An ATM card also useable for making payments at merchants is often called a debit card.
• Credit card, a plastic card attached to a revolving credit line.
• Debit card, a plastic card linked to a bank account.

Major credit cards
MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Japan Credit Bureau (JCB), Discover, Diners Club, China UnionPay

Major debit cards
Maestro (Switch, Solo), Visa Debit (Delta, Connect), Visa Electron, PagoBancomat, Carte Bleue, China UnionPay, Dankort, Girocard (EC), Laser, Interac

Specialty card
Centurion

Defunct cards
Access, Bankcard, Carte Blanche, Choice, enRoute, Eurocard, Everything

See also
Credit card fraud, Interbank network, Automated teller machine (ATM), Magnetic stripe card, Smartcard

Credit Cards

3.3. Discover Card

3.3.4. Discover acquires Diners Club

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