Discover Network

Discover History

The Discover Network is a part of Discover Financial Services, a comprehensive and secure payments network and direct banking operation. The now well known Discover Card was initiated in 1985 by Sears’ Dean Witter Reynolds financial division. The card was actually conceived by a Sears credit manager named Ray Kennedy, Sr. and then became part of the Sears Financial Network. A large customer base resulted from an ingenious plan to give cardholders a 2% “cash back” bonus (now up to 5%) on retail purchase activity. Retailers were enticed with significantly lower merchant fees as compared to competitors MasterCard and Visa. The 80′s proved to be a tough go of it for the Sears Financial division as competition rose from non-traditional retailers like Walmart and Toys r Us. In 1993, Sears divested themselves of their financial division and accepted Visa and MasterCard rather than just the Discover card. Dean Witter merged with Morgan Stanley in 1997 and the Discover Card became a part of the new entity’s card platform. Following the merger, Greenwood Trust (the previous issuing bank for Discover) decided to change its name to Discover Bank. After many starts, stops and acquisitions, DFS segmented into its own independent corporation in conjunction with a partnership with Novus. Currently, the Novus logo has been eliminated and replaced with the Discover network logo.

Discover Platform

Discover Network, as a part of Discover Financial Services, markets and supports a full range of credit, debit and prepaid cards to individual consumers and small companies. Also, Discover offers commercial loans, personal loans, student loans and various other banking products and services like CD’s, money market fund accounts, IRA’s and online savings accounts. Some of the more widely recognized offerings provided by Discover’s payment services division are the PULSE ATM network, the PULSE funds transfer network, Diners Club international payments network and a 3rd party issuing division of prepaid, debit and credit card products.

Discover Product Offering

The Discover Network consists of a wide variety of Payment Solutions products that intend to “cut through the clutter” in a one-of-a-kind program. Financial institutions and retail merchants are Discovers primary client base. The Core Product for Financial Institutions is geared for frequent users not looking for a rewards program. Likewise, there is a Rewards Product for Financial Institutions looking to capture more customers. The Financial Institution Premium Product is for high end customers looking for lots of rewards and program benefits. Above that, there is the Premium Plus Product for the very affluent cardholder. There is also a Business Product targeted to small businesses with high net incomes. The Executive Business product offered through Financial Institutions gives even more rewards and benefits to customers looking for an extra value-added program. Private Label Products can be offered to both Financial Institutions and Merchants (or even co-branded) to increase branding recognition and customer loyalty by including business name on card and shopping exclusivity.

Discover Financial Services/Discover Network Debit Cards

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Young Money Prepaid Discover Card Hip Hop style meets redefined banking with the new Young Money Prepaid Discover Card. Young Money Entertainment, founded by rapper, Lil Wayne has partnered with ACCENT Intermedia, a stored value prepaid card marketing and management company to offer a fresh, new prepaid debit card as an alternative to traditional banking. The Young Money Discover card helps you easily control your finances and requires no credit check. Multiple loading options, shopping convenience and secure transactions are a part of Young Money’s prepaid card program. Read More

nFinanSe Prepaid Discover Card Do you like Discover network cards? The folks at nFinanSe have a great option for you if you are looking for a prepaid Discover card, with the nFinanSe Discover prepaid card. Get all the benefits of a prepaid debit card (including no overdraft fees) with this prepaid Discover card from nFinanSe. Read More

Current by Discover The Current Card was a prepaid teen debit card issued by Discover Bank. In many ways, it was a leader in the teen prepaid card space with excellent parental controls and features. Unfortunately, the Current Card from Discover is no longer available for new account holders (although existing accounts, apparently, remain in service). We are leaving portions of this review on the site for you information. Read More

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