Sure, we’ve all heard of the Grocery Shrink Ray, but gradually shrinking consumer products doesn’t just apply to physical items. Warranties can shrink, and the services that you receive as part of an account or a subscription can shrink too. Readers are reporting that their Discover card benefits will shrink as of next week, so we have bad news if you were very attached to Discover’s travel insurance, baggage delay insurance, and roadside assistance. [More]
discover card
Discover To Let You ‘Freeze’ Credit Card When You’re Not Sure If It Needs To Be Canceled
By 4.15.15
If you’ve ever found yourself without your credit but unsure whether you left it another coat, dropped it on the sidewalk, or had it stolen from your wallet, you’ve really only had one safe option: cancel the card ASAP to prevent anyone else from using it. But Discover is reportedly going to offer its Discover It card customers the option of temporarily shutting the card off without cancellation. [More]
PayPal Users Will Now Be Able To Buy Stuff In 7 Million Stores After Deal With Discover
By 8.22.12
Soon, anywhere you see a Discover logo, you’ll be able to use your PayPal account to buy everything from coffee to clothing in 7 million retail locations across the country. PayPal has been all about expanding its offline presence, and this next step is a pretty big push in that direction. [More]
Why Won't PayPal Accept My Secure Account Number?
By 8.22.12
Discover has a neat account security feature: the ability to generate numbers that only work with one merchant. Imagine how handy this would be in the case of a credit card number breach! Only PayPal, arguably the biggest third-party payment processor in the solar system, won’t accept one of these numbers. It could have something to do with that third-party nature…or do they hate account security? That’s what Doug thinks. [More]
Woman Tries To Report Credit Card Fraud, Almost Gets Arrested
By 5.9.12
Imagine how fun it must be to have your credit card stolen and then be accused of being a thief yourself. Oh, you’re right, that doesn’t sound very fun at all. A woman in Salt Lake City tells the story of a woman who had to go to great lengths, first to prove fraud, and then to defend herself against it. [More]
Discover Accidentally Steals From Foundation To Pay My Credit Card
By 4.6.12
Phil (no, not the one who works here) had to make a payment to an art foundation, and learned that he could use his Discover card to do so. Neat! So he put the payment through, and all was well…until he learned that somehow the transaction went through backwards, transferring the money from the foundation’s bank account to pay his Discover bill. Oops. This seems like it would be easy enough to reverse, but Discover won’t do anything unless the foundation calls them up and nicely asks for their money back. [More]
Discover's Purchase Protection Doesn't Extend To Purchases With Cash-Back Rewards
By 2.1.12
One of the benefits of using a credit card for all of your purchases (and paying it off every moth, naturally) is the extension and sometimes expansion of a product’s original warranty. That’s what Cindy does, making purchases with her Discover card for protection and cash back. What she learned not long ago is that you can have the warranty extension, or use the balance in your cash back account, but you can’t do both. [More]
Transcripts Of Discover Card Allegedly Tricking Customers
By 12.13.10
The Minnesota AG is suing Discover Card for allegedly duping customers into thinking they were just getting a courtesy call about their card but then actually signing them for a payment protection plan. The AG gave copies of the audio files of the customer calls to the New York Times. Here is a salient selection of one of the transcripts. [More]
How A Forgotten Blockbuster Video Caused A 2 1/2 Year Battle With Discover Card And Collection Agencies
By 6.27.08
“Universal Default” is when your credit card company adjusts the terms of your loan because you “defaulted” with another company. In reader P.’s case the “default” was a Blockbuster video that his friend forgot to return. Discover Card took this opportunity to double P.’s interest rate. When he tried to fight it by closing his account, it launched him into a 2 1/2 year legal battle with Discover, a collection agency, and now the credit bureaus.
Discover Card And The Tale Of The $502.55 Tank Of Gas
By 5.14.08
If a gas pump ever accidentally charges you $502.55 for 17 gallons of gas, you’d expect to be able to quickly and easily challenge that charge with your credit card. Unfortunately for James Maddux of Collinsville, OK, it wasn’t that simple.
It Pays To Discover…. That Your APR Stinks
By 10.17.07
In this latest edition of Executive Customer Service cures all that ails you, reader Jeremy was able to keep his Discover Card APR from rising by escalating to the top of the customer service ziggurat. However, he doesn’t realize that he shouldn’t be so happy about keeping an 18.24% APR. We let him in on the secret…
Two-Cycle Billing And Why It’s Evil
By 12.12.06
AllFinancialMatters lays down the math on why two-cycle billing sucks.
