Has anyone used UK DC chip and pin?
#16
Join Date: Nov 2012
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Diners Club International does not issue cards. They operate the transaction network, and issue franchises to others who issue cards. The UK Diners Club cards are issued by Affiniture Cards Limited. This sounds quite similar to the way MasterCard works, except that Diners tends to issue exclusive franchises while MC do not. (Not sure about VISA because I believe VISA Europe is still owned by the card-issuing banks.)
#17
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This is a Diners Club forum. It's not about Discover cards, those are discussed in the Credit Cards forum. The Discover cards have nothing to do with Diners Club except running on the same network.
And in the USA/Canada, where Diners Club cards issued locally run on the Master Card network, Diners Club and Discover cards have 0.0000000% to do with each other.
#18
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 3,537
Diners and Discover are separate companies at the card level; it's only the network that they share.
This is a Diners Club forum. It's not about Discover cards, those are discussed in the Credit Cards forum. The Discover cards have nothing to do with Diners Club except running on the same network.
And in the USA/Canada, where Diners Club cards issued locally run on the Master Card network, Diners Club and Discover cards have 0.0000000% to do with each other.
This is a Diners Club forum. It's not about Discover cards, those are discussed in the Credit Cards forum. The Discover cards have nothing to do with Diners Club except running on the same network.
And in the USA/Canada, where Diners Club cards issued locally run on the Master Card network, Diners Club and Discover cards have 0.0000000% to do with each other.
If Discover Financial Services was issuing the current Diner's Club UK card, like I thought, then they could profitably introduce the Discover Card alongside it. Since they DO NOT issue the Diner's Club card, they can't, as the 0.3% cap applies.
This situation is biting American Express right now (I wonder if when current agreements expire, they'll quit allowing other issuers...).
It is only in the US where Diner's Club is unrelated to Discover, and even there not terribly relevant since almost no one has a US Diner's Club card (they only accepted applications for several months out of the last several years, and the majority of people who got one then got their account cancelled later).
#19
Join Date: Jul 2012
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They also don't acquire their own merchants anymore and they use merchant providers and the EU counts that as a 4 party network.
#21
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It's a bit like Amex. There's Amex the bank, and there's Amex the network. There are some other banks in the US totally unaffiliated with Amex the bank (in terms of ownership) that nevertheless issue cards that run on the Amex network. Yet most cards that run on the Amex network are issued by Amex the bank. People get confused by this a lot too.
#22
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 3,537
No, it's not. You're confusing the network operator with the card program. The Diners Club network operator worldwide, including in the US, is Discover. The card program has nothing to do with Discover; it is Diners Club on its own. The fact that the card program and the network use the same may be confusing to you, but it has precedent.
It's a bit like Amex. There's Amex the bank, and there's Amex the network. There are some other banks in the US totally unaffiliated with Amex the bank (in terms of ownership) that nevertheless issue cards that run on the Amex network. Yet most cards that run on the Amex network are issued by Amex the bank. People get confused by this a lot too.
It's a bit like Amex. There's Amex the bank, and there's Amex the network. There are some other banks in the US totally unaffiliated with Amex the bank (in terms of ownership) that nevertheless issue cards that run on the Amex network. Yet most cards that run on the Amex network are issued by Amex the bank. People get confused by this a lot too.
Yes, I'm aware the program is unrelated to the network, though as a practical point that only matters in the US, and there are almost no Diners Club program members in the US as it's ended years ago (except for one several month period where they signed up a bunch of people, then cancelled most of them).
#23
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Remember, Discover is or at least was very tied into Sears (department store), in the you could pay your Discover statement bill at Sears check-out counters throughout the store (back before online payment became common), and is Sears that common in the UK?
Meanwhile, isn't it rare for most US banks to be in the UK? Is Wells Fargo there? Is Bank of America there? And speaking of Diners Club, is BMO there?
#24
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Bank of America is a large affinity card issuer in the UK:
https://www.mbna.co.uk/
...but you won't see any explicit mention of Bank of America on the site.
Sears sold Discover in 1993. I don't see how that is relevant to the opportunity to launch the brand in Europe. I think the bigger obstacle is that it would put the owner of Diners Club International in direct competition with their Diners Club franchisees (or it would have to be offered through those franchisees as a secondary brand.)
https://www.mbna.co.uk/
...but you won't see any explicit mention of Bank of America on the site.
Sears sold Discover in 1993. I don't see how that is relevant to the opportunity to launch the brand in Europe. I think the bigger obstacle is that it would put the owner of Diners Club International in direct competition with their Diners Club franchisees (or it would have to be offered through those franchisees as a secondary brand.)
#25
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 3,537
Bank of America is a large affinity card issuer in the UK:
https://www.mbna.co.uk/
...but you won't see any explicit mention of Bank of America on the site.
Sears sold Discover in 1993. I don't see how that is relevant to the opportunity to launch the brand in Europe. I think the bigger obstacle is that it would put the owner of Diners Club International in direct competition with their Diners Club franchisees (or it would have to be offered through those franchisees as a secondary brand.)
https://www.mbna.co.uk/
...but you won't see any explicit mention of Bank of America on the site.
Sears sold Discover in 1993. I don't see how that is relevant to the opportunity to launch the brand in Europe. I think the bigger obstacle is that it would put the owner of Diners Club International in direct competition with their Diners Club franchisees (or it would have to be offered through those franchisees as a secondary brand.)
I agree that Diners is the obstacle here they need to cut off their franchisees!
#26
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Sears sold Discover in 1993. I don't see how that is relevant to the opportunity to launch the brand in Europe. I think the bigger obstacle is that it would put the owner of Diners Club International in direct competition with their Diners Club franchisees (or it would have to be offered through those franchisees as a secondary brand.)
#27
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Canada
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Posts: 2,194
Canada doesn't have Discover either, the only places I've even noticed accepting it are Walmart and Calgary taxis. I vaguely remember Discover cards being issued in some South American country but I can't remember which.