Originally Posted by
rasheed
Finally, it is always bad news to lose an issuer, but Discover has been "for sale" for a few years, and I am sure every bank has gone through the process of determining if it wanted to make an offer for the assets. Discover has done a lot to try and make itself more attractive (getting rid of student loans, etc.), but if you get pass the merger PR (and the potential regulatory issues), here is what I see happening:
-I think the Discover brand will remain only for the merchant network (well, the old Novus really). Discover branded cards will move to the Capital One label eventually.
-While Discover has US support, Capital One has very few, I expect most of the US support to close to achieve desired cost savings unfortunately.
-I agree that the 5 percent rotating will go away. I went through the HSBC USA to Capital One process and after awhile, all of the cards that were converted eventually lost their better rebate features.
I am concerned that your assumptions are correct, I share them. I have their card since 1986, they were the first to give cash back on every purchase. I still use it for the 5% categories and love that they support the NHL which I am a fan of (perhaps the only one on FT). Their US based outstanding customer support is unparalleled from my experience (CSP used to be just as good or better but that was many years ago). I also currently bank with Discover for years as their interest rate is competitive and they are so easy to do business with.
I am hoping this gets shot down, but not holding my breath or expecting that outcome...