Diners Club Club Rewards - Wonders not Ceasing: Large Ad for Diners

There it is. Page B7 of the Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, March 15, 2011. The ad, pitched to corporate travel departments, informs us that Diners has the "unsurpassed global acceptance" of MasterCard, that it has "powerful reconciliation tools", that it has "outstanding Club Rewards" program, and other advantages (although not much for individual users).

There it is.

I think this is good news for DC card holders.

When BMO purchased the North American DC franchise from Citi I figured it could go one of two ways;

BMO could enhance and promote the product ( including the Club Rewards program ) and use it to develop new business, or

BMO could try and migrate as many DC card holders as possible over to the existing BMO Mastercard products and kill what was left of the DC brand in North America.

From the sounds if this ad it sounds like they are using the first strategy, at least to market the DC Corporate Card. Hopefully they will put effort into marketing and improving the Professional ( non-corporate ) version of the card as well.

Oh, I've seen a HUGE Diners Club ad at some Canadian airport, probably Montreal. Massive thing hanging there. Still, Diners Club is not available in Canada and there is hardly any acceptance (unless you hold a MasterCard-cobranded card, which is only issued in the US and nowhere else). The international cooperation of DC with MC has quietly ended.

I remember one odd gas station in New Brunswick accepting international Diners Club cards, as well as Air Canada and VIA Rail (but I don't know if they still do).

...Canada and there is hardly any acceptance (unless you hold a MasterCard-cobranded card, which is only issued in the US and nowhere else). The international cooperation of DC with MC has quietly ended.

Diners Club cards are issued on MasterCard network in both Canada and USA. Acceptance of other Diners Club cards has changed from MasterCard to Discover network. This occurred when Diners Club International (the network operator) was acquired by Discover. Your card issuer should have notified you. I do not know how widely Discover is accepted in Canada.

Well, FINALLY something is happening!

One would have to assume that if BMO is advertising the Diners Club card they must be planning to accept new applications in Canada and the US sometime soon.

Or perhaps they already are ? Anyone know ?

And as Mia mentioned, the DC Mastercard certainly is available in Canada. I have been happily spending money on my Canadian issued DC MC for at least 5 or 6 years. Maybe more.

There are some significant differences in the product between the US and Canadian issued versions, but it is still a Mastercard.

One would have to assume that if BMO is advertising the Diners Club card they must be planning to accept new applications in Canada and the US sometime soon.

Or perhaps they already are ? Anyone know ?

After I had see that HUGE ad, I called them upon returning from my trip. That was i January. They even had an option in their vioce menu for applying for new cards, but in the end they told me that they are not issuing DC cards in Canada and that I shouldn't hold my breath. I think they said nothing before 2012 or so, but I don't really recall all details.

Diners Club cards are issued on MasterCard network in both Canada and USA. Acceptance of other Diners Club cards has changed from MasterCard to Discover network. This occurred when Diners Club International (the network operator) was acquired by Discover. Your card issuer should have notified you. I do not know how widely Discover is accepted in Canada.

My Austrian card issuer was ignorant to the Discover fact. They thought they where still a Mastercard partner. They denied for months that that had changed. :-)

However, just the other day I tried to use my Austrian DC card in an online shop that accepted Discover. The thing told me that my credit card number was wrong, which it wasn't. There you go...

And I haven't seen Discover logos here in Canada. In January, Discover started a cooperation with what I think is Canadas largest merchant acquirer. Maybe something will come from that.

My Austrian card issuer was ignorant to the Discover fact. They thought they where still a Mastercard partner. They denied for months that that had changed. :-)

However, just the other day I tried to use my Austrian DC card in an online shop that accepted Discover. The thing told me that my credit card number was wrong, which it wasn't. There you go...

And I haven't seen Discover logos here in Canada. In January, Discover started a cooperation with what I think is Canadas largest merchant acquirer. Maybe something will come from that.

If your credit card number begins with:

4= VISA
5= Master Card
6= Discover