Diners Club Club Rewards - Diners Club restarting in Canada?

Hello,

I understand that Nov 7 will be the date that BMO takes over Diners Club. The Canadian DC website is already offline - until the morning of Nov 7.

Would anyone here be in the know if DC will restart its business in Canada?

And if yes, if they would still cooperate with MasterCard so that they have decent acceptance? The current acceptance of DC in Canada is dismal, especially if you have a non-US DC.

TNX

The Diners Club franchises for both Canada and the USA were sold to BMO (Bank of Montreal) two years ago. BMO is taking operational control of the cards this weekend. The cards will still use MasterCard network.

Yes. In Canada, DC did not accept applications for new cards quite a while now (probably those two years). I know that some corporate accounts (like government employees) have been provided with cobranded MC/DC cards, but private applications have not been accepted.

I wanted to see if anyone here knows if and when this would be changing, so that I can prepare to apply for a Canadian DC card. I need to decide this coming week what kind of Canadian card I get as a sidekick to my Canadian Amex.

BTW: For some time, all DC cards could use the Mastercard network in North America. However, for DC cards not issued in North America this cooperation has ended a while ago, probably with the beginning of 2010. As a result, my Austrian DC card is not very useful in Canada. So I would consider obtaining a Canadian DC card.

In North America your Austrian DC card should be accepted by merchants who take the Discover card. Many do in the USA.

Thank you, but I don't want to use it in the US. :-) It's just too expensive.

I do remember trying to use my Austrian DC card in some North American online store or online booking website, selecting "Discovery" credit card. It didn't work because the system said that the card number was incorrect (before even trying to submit the data for verification).

I also remember trying it in some shops where it said "Discover" on the door (as it does on the back of my card), but without success. I don't remember all of them, but one was a duty free store at LHR (alas, not North America).

While it is very clear that BMO is proceeding with Diners Club corporate cards, to be honest, there hasn't been any indication whatsoever that BMO will be accepting applications for personal cards in Canada at all. BMO's relationship with Mastercard is very strong, and it is already been established that BMO/Harris-issued DC cards will be Mastercards. But again, there really hasn't been any indication at all that DC will be open to new applications for personal cards in Canada. It was the corporate portfolio that attracted BMO to buy Diners Club in the first place, so it really is anybody's guess as to how much effort they're going to put into the "professional" cards.

OK, Thank you. There Canadian website came back up on Sunday, including a BMO logo in the bottom left corner. No talk about applications unless your account is 5 Million or more in a year.

According to my contact at BMO the Canadian DC card will open up to new personal applications early in 2012.

According to my contact at BMO the Canadian DC card will open up to new personal applications early in 2012.
That timing makes sense to me. They've got to get everything working for their existing members first, before it makes sense to take on even more members. Early 2012 is also when existing members are set to receive new cards, so it would make no sense for them to start accepting new members until they have the issuing of new cards up and going.

According to my contact at BMO the Canadian DC card will open up to new personal applications early in 2012.

Ah, thank you very much! Good news, but I had to decide about an application this week. I'll have another look next year.

BTW, today I was able to use my Austrian Diners Club in Halifax for the first time: At Quiznos! They had a new (?) Discover/DC-logo at the door and it worked perfectly. Nice.

So the new Discover-Acquirer Moneris does make inroads. :-)

Edit: Walmart had a Discover-Logo at the checkout today as well.

Is this available for new applications now?

What's the difference between corporate and professional? Does owning a small business make a difference?

Thanks!

What's the difference between corporate and professional? Does owning a small business make a difference?
Read post 4 of this short thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/diners-club-club-rewards/1351565-converting-us-personal-corporate.html

As you can see there, your business has to be far, far from small for you to qualify for a corporate account. Basically, if you have to ask, you don't qualify!

Just missed it by a little then!

For the professional is that open in Canada yet?

Thanks!

Still no applications online... anyone have inside info?

While this may not be about Diners Club Canada specifically, this is pretty big news (http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/government-canada-selects-bmo-financial-group-mastercard-as-official-travel-card-supplier-tsx-bmo-1775478.htm) for BMO, since the whole point of buying the North American DC franchises was to enlarge their corporate card business. It seems that the Government of Canada will be using BMO Corporate Card products, rather than DC, but all in all, that's a pretty big whale to have lured away from American Express, and I doubt they would've been able to do that had they not acquired the DC franchises first. Interesting to see what happens to the DC brand (at least in Canada) after this.

While this may not be about Diners Club Canada specifically, this is pretty big news (http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/government-canada-selects-bmo-financial-group-mastercard-as-official-travel-card-supplier-tsx-bmo-1775478.htm) for BMO, since the whole point of buying the North American DC franchises was to enlarge their corporate card business. It seems that the Government of Canada will be using BMO Corporate Card products, rather than DC, but all in all, that's a pretty big whale to have lured away from American Express, and I doubt they would've been able to do that had they not acquired the DC franchises first. Interesting to see what happens to the DC brand (at least in Canada) after this.

They were using amex before? interesting

They were using amex before? interesting

At least they did 10 years ago when my wife worked for the feds. And I suspect any Corporate contract that size (and for that particular customer) would have Amex bidding front and centre.