Discover is now part of Capital One • Hacker News Board

Re: Discover is now part of Capital One

#61

Post by lxgr » Mon, May 19, 2025, 6:11 PM UTC

hombre_fatal wrote: post #45

Ugh. Moving back to the US after a decade abroad, I had to get credit cards to rebuild my nonexistent credit. Discover and Capital One both had deposit-based credit cards for credit building, so that's what I started with. Discover's customer support system was polished and felt like a small company. I'd always speak to a polite native English speaker. When I gave authentication information to the pre-call robot (lik…

Agreed – Discover has great customer support. Their tech stack, however, seems terrible. They had a very messy migration of their Zelle integration and in the process seem to have broken things for many of their checking customers. Personally, I could neither use it, nor enroll my email address or phone number previously enrolled at Discover with any another bank for several months!

Capital One seems to have a much more modern tech stack: Their app is much more usable than most other banks' I've tried, and they're the only US credit card issuer I know of that actually supports 3DS without any ugly hacks that usually mean trouble when shopping at a foreign merchant that requires it. They also support a very neat authentication feature – tapping my credit or debit card on my phone – which I haven't seen with any other bank yet.

Let's see which tech stack and which customer support organization survives the merger, respectively...

Re: Discover is now part of Capital One

#62

Post by AStonesThrow » Mon, May 19, 2025, 6:19 PM UTC

hombre_fatal wrote: post #45

Ugh. Moving back to the US after a decade abroad, I had to get credit cards to rebuild my nonexistent credit. Discover and Capital One both had deposit-based credit cards for credit building, so that's what I started with. Discover's customer support system was polished and felt like a small company. I'd always speak to a polite native English speaker. When I gave authentication information to the pre-call robot (lik…

A few years ago I decided to build some credit with a Discover secured card. And when I researched Discover, I learned about why their acceptance was lower (higher merchant transaction fees) and their overseas acceptance was comparatively lower, and that they didn't have a single brick-and-mortar branch, and so with masochistic glee, I signed up!

Discover's credit card was a great idea, I feel. The cashback rewards I can earn at restaurants are great. The acceptance hasn't really been a barrier to spending, but unfortunately I cling to my Visa-based debit, "just in case" there are merchants who can't accept Discover -- what else would I do?

The lack of branches? No big deal, considering anything important can be done through their app or website. Which are very polished, attractive and functional. They don't even 2FA me from my Chromebook.

Their customer service is amazing. I mean, call in the middle of the night to a fluent English speaker who tells you where they're located?! They are so polite and patient! Best ever experience, really. In fact, my credit union's reps are really good too. It's a small blessing.

I did not need to open a Discover Checking account, and I can't remember why I did it, but I did. The Discover Bank debit card is different than their credit cards, and therefore acceptance may be even lower. I still get cashback rewards on it.

My finances are uncomplicated. I don't much enjoy dealing separately with two banks. I don't really need to. Except my credit union has no credit card to offer me, and Discover has no Visa to offer me. So I get along. We'll see how the Capital One thing goes.

Obligatory "Capital 1" related xkcd: https://m.xkcd.com/2206/

Re: Discover is now part of Capital One

#63

Post by coldpie » Mon, May 19, 2025, 6:29 PM UTC

ravenstine wrote: post #52

coldpie wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've been using Discover for years and I think I've only ever encountered 2 places that didn't take it Really? For brick & mortar retail, my experience is pretty much only the major retailers accept it. Most small, local, or even regional retailers do not accept it.

I've used my Discover card at a bajillion bars, restaurants, and stores this last 2 years, all ranging from dives and mom & pops to bigger retailers and haven't had a single problem in that time. Then again, I've been living in Boston and Los Angeles, so maybe Discover is more accepted in major cities?

Interesting! I wonder if it's a regional thing. I'm in the Twin Cities, so not a small town. Some smaller places do accept it, but I find it's pretty rare.

Re: Discover is now part of Capital One

#64

Post by drdaeman » Mon, May 19, 2025, 6:30 PM UTC

0xC0ncord wrote: post #44

mulderc wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well run? Haven’t they had lots of legal issues over the years? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_One#Investigations_a...

Seems like nothing more than the cost of doing business.

I'm seeing misleading advertising with scummy/dark patterns, spam, failure to disclose important information, plus all the classic stuff like money laundering and bank fraud.

Could be just the cost of doing business, if that business' motto is "you either fuck someone over, or get fucked" or at least "you gotta hustle to survive".

I'm so tired of all those businesses out there.

Re: Discover is now part of Capital One

#65

Post by toomuchtodo » Mon, May 19, 2025, 6:33 PM UTC

the_optimist wrote: post #48

IAmBroom wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "more competition among the payment networks" The exact opposite of what's happening.

How? The Discover network will be substantially better positioned to influence visa mastercard and amex, which are each expensive and oligopolistic. You know anything about this, or just spitballing here?

All payment roads eventually lead to FedNow instant payments.

https://fintechtakes.com/articles/2025-03-25/the-pay-by-bank...

https://20392958.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/203929... (page 4 specifically)

(work at a fintech, thoughts and opinions my own)

Re: Discover is now part of Capital One

#66

Post by chasil » Mon, May 19, 2025, 6:33 PM UTC

trollbridge wrote: post #26

xyst wrote: post #12

It’s Ticketmaster and LiveNation all over again. Business owners going to get gouged. Customers going to see price of items go up as business owners pass along increased transaction costs. Yes - this will also impact you even if you don’t have a discover/capital one card.

Soon you'll have to put up a "no Discover accepted" sign right next to the "Amex not accepted" sign.

What I am actually seeing are restaurant receipts with "price for cash" and a higher "price for credit." I am not seeing this for groceries or other goods.

I understand that the "Durbin Amendment" had something to do with this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durbin_amendment

Re: Discover is now part of Capital One

#67

Post by WorldMaker » Mon, May 19, 2025, 6:36 PM UTC

trollbridge wrote: post #26

xyst wrote: post #12

It’s Ticketmaster and LiveNation all over again. Business owners going to get gouged. Customers going to see price of items go up as business owners pass along increased transaction costs. Yes - this will also impact you even if you don’t have a discover/capital one card.

Soon you'll have to put up a "no Discover accepted" sign right next to the "Amex not accepted" sign.

When I had Apple Card's daily cash going to Apple Cash was when Apple Cash was still a Discover (debit) card under the hood. (Last I checked it is a Visa [debit card] now.) During that time I found a bunch of places didn't take Discover and just didn't even put up a sign (even ones that had "Amex not accepted signs") because they didn't think anyone cared. It was never an issue then because I'd just switch back to the Apple Card (Mastercard), but as the only Discover card I've ever had in my "wallet" (virtual or otherwise) it was an interesting experience that left a lasting impression.

Re: Discover is now part of Capital One

#68

Post by Firehawke » Mon, May 19, 2025, 6:36 PM UTC

jimt1234 wrote: post #57

Dumb question: Why are payment networks so difficult? My vague/naive assumption is it's because of complex banking/financial regulations and legacy banking systems. But honestly, from a technical perspective, I don't see it as so complicated. Anyone reading this could create a transactional system for "payments", open it to the public and scale it - basically, Venmo. The only major costs I can see are "infrastructure…

Regulation. The cost of regulation compliance and tracking that you're in full compliance, and the lawyers needed to keep all of that in line.

Re: Discover is now part of Capital One

#69

Post by trollbridge » Mon, May 19, 2025, 6:40 PM UTC

jldugger wrote: post #37

trollbridge wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Soon you'll have to put up a "no Discover accepted" sign right next to the "Amex not accepted" sign.

I suspect the trick here is that capitalone issues so many other cards that once they standardize on it, merchants can't refuse their network without losing substantial amounts of business.

It is very likely C1 will move away from MC/Visa. There's a massive amount of money on the table for them in the form of interchange fees. They're effectively becoming the next American Express.

From a competitive landscape, this is probably a good thing - Discover never really did much issuance of cards by other banks, and this means competition against Amex.

Re: Discover is now part of Capital One

#70

Post by ethbr1 » Mon, May 19, 2025, 6:45 PM UTC

lxgr wrote: post #61

hombre_fatal wrote: post #45

Ugh. Moving back to the US after a decade abroad, I had to get credit cards to rebuild my nonexistent credit. Discover and Capital One both had deposit-based credit cards for credit building, so that's what I started with. Discover's customer support system was polished and felt like a small company. I'd always speak to a polite native English speaker. When I gave authentication information to the pre-call robot (lik…

Agreed – Discover has great customer support. Their tech stack, however, seems terrible. They had a very messy migration of their Zelle integration and in the process seem to have broken things for many of their checking customers. Personally, I could neither use it, nor enroll my email address or phone number previously enrolled at Discover with any another bank for several months! Capital One seems to have a much m…

Underappreciated reason, when system observations are made:

- Discover was founded in 1985 (credit card only, by Sears) and began banking in 2006(?)

- Capital One was founded in 1994 (credit card only) and began banking in 2005

Legacy systems suck, especially if the parent company has underinvested in IT modernization for decades. Delta? Southwest? And younger companies don't have to deal with the pre-digital legacy pain of < ~1990 founded companies.