LAXRuss

I had the Diners Club card for about 15 years. Then about 10 years ago I cancelled the card because I was annoyed that they charged me a late fee for not making a payment in the same statement period when I had received an equivalent credit. AMEX does not do that, but Diners Club did in the late 2000's. Now after having regret, I find for years they no longer accept any applications to come back to the fold.

Naturally one of the biggest benefits for travelers is the Chip & PIN feature, but the multiple points transfers is a nice feature too. I always was annoyed at the 3% FOREX fee. Recently at least I discovered that my State Department Federal Credit Union (SDFCU) has opportunities for virtually any U.S. resident to join and they allow their credit card holders to choose between a primary Chip & Signature and Chip and PIN card. They are about the only bank I know that allows the selction, but the Chip & PIN, like the Diner's Club, works out well. Recently I was in Mexico where the gas station claimed they could not take foreign credit cards. I showed the cash to fill up the car, but at the end when I insisted to use my credit card, they were amazed that my SDFCU card processed easily as Chip & PIN, just as Diner's would. Thus, I would like to come back to Diners for the rewards program, but at least I have a no fee no FOREX chip & pin card unless they choose to take applications again.

kshanew

Not answering the question you asked but asking one of my own. SDFCU does Chip & PIN now? I've had both an SDFCU Visa CC and a Debit card for a few years..both are chip & sig and I didn't know they now had the option for Chip & PIN.

tmiw

They've been "temporarily" closed to new applicants for a couple of years now. I have doubts they'll reopen it any time soon, if ever--at least with the cards they currently have.

That said, I'm not sure that US Diners Club cards are all that competitive anymore. A lot of other cards have many of the same benefits these days (such as lounge access and primary CDW coverage), not to mention rewards programs that could potentially work out better for some depending on travel habits, etc. The only fairly unique benefit in my mind is the PIN and contactless support, but even then the usefulness is limited if one's travel is mostly domestic (and could even be a disadvantage in some cases).

One question I do have is whether they might give up and switch to signature preference eventually, like what nearly every other major card has done. It'd suck but considering the issues I've had in the US while using mine, might be for the best.

sdsearch

"Same" only at the topmost description.

Yes, other cards have lounge access, but it's a somewhat different set of lounges, typically Priority Pass, which is not what Diners Club uses.

AFAIK Diners Club is the only USA credit card based transferable points program that transfer to Alaska Airlines (once the Virgin indirect transfer goes poof within the next few months), and the only one that transfers at a good ratio to some smaller hotel programs (that Amex MR also supports but a horrid ratio).

So while I don't argue against that fact that for some people the Priority Pass way of accessing lounges and the different transfer partners may work better, it's not quite the "same" IMHO, just "similar" benefits.

And on car rentals, it can depend on where you rent. Some other card (I forget which) was just in the news as having made rentals in a couple countries work but still leaves a few countries out. While DC doesn't have any country restrictions (just car value restrictions), doesn't it? (Though it can be confusing to "sum up", because the car coverage for the legacy Professional card is I think a bit different than the car coverage for the newer Consumer cards.)

tmiw

Re: lounge access--I got the impression that Priority Pass and DC lounge networks have significant overlap. I haven't tried getting a list of lounges for each network to compare, though.

As for CDW, I took a look at the Premier's guide to benefits and I don't see any country restrictions. There are restrictions for NY cardholders, though, which I don't think any other card has. (Why does being in NY change things, out of curiosity?)

Another difference is that DC has a $50K maximum for the above card whereas the CSR (for example) has a has a $75K maximum. I remember the CSP having no explicit maximum before when I still had it, but it also had "no luxury car" type language that made rentals such as from Silvercar questionable. That was the main reason why I tended to use DC for such rentals before.

Orange County Commuter

I have had a professional car for 28 years or so. I would hate to see it go away. It is the only true Chip/Pin card I have and the only place I have trouble using it in the US is the car dealer that can't understand she just can't "override the pin" LOL!

I like it because it's not Amex (I had a huge problem with one of my accounts there.) And it allows me to transfer the points to lots of places to "top up" an account for a special occasion.

smith80678

I am under the impression that Harris bank decided to open the Diners club card again but didn't do research or forsee that people could "manufacture spend" to abuse the rewards on the card. They then attempted to close most of the accounts, especially the Elite card.

OpenSky

I personally want one because it is a a true CHIP and PIN card ideal for international travel, with all the true travel perks.

Amex, Chase, Citi don't even come close Heck, Chase and Citi are both Chip and Signature only with no offline PIN capability . Good luck trying to pay a toll booth in france with that.

As usual, all the MS people ruin everything they touch.

Please BMO, open your product to new apps!!

They bought the business for 800+ million dollars, I can't imagine why they are just parking it without growing the business.

tmiw

I'm just glad they didn't switch to chip and signature like several other issuers that were PIN preferring before. In fact, I'm surprised they kept the contactless feature too considering how it's not really a thing in the US.

Anyway, if they ever do reopen apps it'll probably be a new card (or heavily tweaked original consumer card) that isn't so easy to MS.

mia

It was evident at the time that BMO was primarily interested in the Corporate accounts. The Consumer/Professional part is just a bonus or a drag on the profits.

askmrlee

I have a bigger problem with some terminals prompting to enter a tax amount and one merchant insisting on a signature even though I "entered a PIN for my debit card".

tmiw

You sure it wasn't tip that you're supposed to enter? MasterCard rules actually prohibit tip adjust (the "usual" restaurant behavior in the US) if a PIN's used with the chip; because it's so uncommon, it's a lot easier and cost-effective for some to simply disable PIN functionality altogether than to buy wireless terminals or have people pay at the front.

OpenSky

I'll take the hassle. If only I could get it.

Spend roughly 5-10K a month on legit card purchases.
Steady income
750> credit score.
Usually pay balance in full almost always, if not in 1-2 billing cycles.

Not even open to applications.

For those who have it I would NOT GIVE IT UP

What would be nice is if the user could specify the order in which the priority is placed. In theory this could be achieved via a third party card. Remember plastc?

sdsearch

Well depending on how you want to define it, Barclay makes some "true" CHIP and PIN cards. They aren't PIN priority, like BMO DC is, but they have both offline and online PIN. I have that on my Barclay AA Aviator Red. (I don't offhand know which, if any, of their other cards, besides the AA Aviator card group, have that.)

So if you just want something to work in situations where only offline PIN or only online PIN is supported, there are other solutions out there besides waiting for BMO to maybe start re-issuing Diners Club personal and/or professional cards.

SteveT

Im wondering what the hold up is with new applications. Is BMO/Harris ever going to revive the personal and professional cards or just let them die and concentrate on corporate cards.

It would be sad to let them die, the cards has potential.