Guest Post on Behalf of Modest Money.
I’m willing to bet in your lifetime you’ve had more than one Visa or MasterCard (whether it was a Debit or Credit card). In all likelihood you’ve had an American Express at least once. And I’m also willing to bet if you are a hard bargainer and looking for great deals, you have probably acquired a Discover Card as well.
Here’s are some things about Discover you may not know:
They’re Less Than 30 Years Old
Discover was founded as recently as 1985 (by Sears coincidentally). It’s a late comer to the bank transaction party.
A Vendor’s Point of View: Prices
Discover, along with American Express, generally charges higher processing rates to vendors. Essentially, a Discover Card user has a line of credit sitting in their wallet in the form of a plastic card. They go to a store and buy something with that loan—Discover pays the store up front. And Discover is charging more than MasterCard or Visa to go and collect that money from you. If a vendor doesn’t want to incur these higher fees (meaning they are making less profit) they will choose to accept only cash, check, and possible Debit cards as well as MasterCard and Visa.
The Consumer Side: A Bit Less Access
As the vendor’s are trying to save money, shoppers (the users of the card) are then hindered from using their Discover Card as much as they’d like. If you have a Discover or American Express, you may occasionally have encountered a vendor that only takes MasterCard or Visa. However, these days, Discover and American Express are almost as universally accepted as MasterCard and Visa.
The Consumer Side: There IS a BIG Upside
The upside to Discover Cards for consumers is that they offer great perks. If you have an excellent credit score, or are planning to pay your balance in full each month, many Discover Cards have some very tempting benefits you should consider. Check out this Discover It Credit Card review to see if Discover might be the credit card company for you.
Check out some of the best credit card offers online at ModestMoney.com.
Discover is a paid advertiser of this site.
