Update 5/18/25: today it became official that Discover has merged into Capital One.( Official merger page link) For now nothing is changing for consumers. We’ll have to wait and see how things develop over time.
Update 4/18/25: Capital One has received the green light from regulators according to WSJ.
Update 4/4/25: It cleared DoJ scrutiny, per Reuters
Update 3/18/25: Looks like this will be blocked by DoJ.
DOJ Staff Finds Deal Would Be Anticompetitive in Subprime Sector DOJ staff has determined that Capital One’s proposed $35.3 billion acquisition of Discover Financial would harm competition in the subprime sector, sources familiar with the matter said.
Update 2/11/25: Capital One & Discover have agreed to an extension until May 19, 2025 due to ongoing litigation and need to secure regulatory approvals.
Update 10/25/24: Deal won’t close this year.
Capital One will buy Discover Financial Services, WSJ reports. The bank will keep the Discover brand. The massive merger will combine two of the largest credit card issuers in the US.
Now, what’s on my mind: will Discover start doing 3-pulls for credit card applications? 🙂 In all likelihood, it will be many years until there are any changes to how either bank operates. It remains to be seen if this will affect credit card or bank signup bonuses in the longer term.
Just got this from Discover regarding my savings account:
Discover® is now part of Capital One
What you need to know
We’re pleased to announce that on May 18, 2025, Discover Bank merged into Capital One, N.A. (“Capital One”). As a result, your Discover Bank deposit account is now part of Capital One. This notice applies to each Discover Bank deposit account you may have. There’s no action you need to take to continue to use your account.
What stays the same
• Account information: Your account number, routing number, debit card, and checks, as applicable, haven’t changed, and you can continue to bank with Discover as you always have.
• Account login: Continue to manage your account using your existing user ID and password at Discover.com and in the Discover mobile app.
• Payments: Any automatic deposits, withdrawals, or bill pay with Discover will continue to be processed on the same schedule.
• Benefits: Enjoy your same great Discover benefits, including no account fees, account monitoring for potential fraud, and the friendly service you’ve come to expect.
What’s changing to your Deposit Account Agreement
Your Deposit Account Agreement and any other Agreements (“Agreement”) are now between you and Capital One. This Agreement and your account are governed by applicable federal law and, to the extent state law applies, the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, where Capital One is headquartered.
What to know about FDIC Deposit Insurance
There is no change to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insurance on your eligible deposits, unless you had deposits at both banks at the time of the merger. If you did have eligible deposits at both banks at the time of the merger, those deposits remain separately insured by the FDIC for a period of six months after the merger date. Please see important details in our Frequently Asked Questions at Discover.com/merger to make sure you understand any potential impacts to FDIC deposit insurance coverage.
What happens next
We’re committed to a smooth transition. We’ll continue to keep you updated, and you can always check our Frequently Asked Questions at Discover.com/merger for more information. If you have any questions about your Discover account, reach out like you usually do at Discover.com, in the mobile app, or by phone at 1-855-580-0822 for the same friendly, U.S.-based service you’ve come to expect. And if you also have a Capital One account, please continue to contact Capital One with questions about that account.
Safeguard your account: Scammers who claim to be Discover or Capital One may contact you asking for sensitive information. Remember we won’t contact you about these changes asking you to provide us with sensitive information such as your account number, password, one-time code, or to request initiating any bank transfers. If ever in doubt, please call us directly.
RIP Discover Card and the 5% categories
RIP Discover’s US-based customer service.
I’m guessing many of Cap1’s non-travel cards will transition to the Discover Network, e.g.Savor and Quicksiver
I’m hoping that you are wrong with the 1st line in your comment!
RIP the US based customer service indeed 🙁
I’ve been banned from opening any CapitalOne account for several years now (due to abuse of No Hassle checks) and also have many Discover accounts. Curious to see how this plays out.
By “abuse of No Hassle checks” are you referring to balance transfer checks with no fees? If not, what does that mean?
Yes, that’s the product. You are/were supposed to use these checks to pay for a service where credit is not accepted (e.g. a contractor for home repair work); usage codes as a no-fee balance transfer with the purchase APR — essentially a regular purchase.
CapitalOne maintained a list of common payees for electronic payment. If the payee isn’t in the list, CapitalOne mails a check to you for the requested amount in your name, after which you cash it and use it to pay for the service.
Is this product still offered? I surely couldn’t be the only one who turned this into a free loan.
That’s not smart that CO made the checks out to you instead of the merchant.
Does anyone know if this means CO acquired Discover Mortgage too? I have a home equity loan through Discover. I don’t interact with them much now that I’m just making payments but the customer service was so astoundingly good, I would hate to see it downgraded if I ever wanted to do a refinance…
FAQ on home loans: https://www.discover.com/faqs/discover-home-loans-capital-one-discover-merger/
Hm. Vague and more vague. The really nice things about Discover Home Loans were that the customer service was US based, they had mortgage officers there until MIDNIGHT (my husband and I work third shift, I can’t stress how amazing that is) and their home equity had 0 closing costs, not even an appraisal fee. I just envision CO completely shitting all that up
I completely see CO shitting up a lot.
The extended hours and US based for CS is a nice thing that I hope stays but I am not holding out hope. Things were nicely moving to 24 hours for the longest time (I worked 3rd for years) like grocery stores, Walmart, even McD drive-thrus but the pandemic seemed to have curtailed all that again.
I doubt extended hours will last too. I just got my loan a year ago though, and Discover was doing it. I was very surprised. But yeah I solely have Walmart + now because I can’t shop in the middle of the night anymore. Everything in my life has to happen between 4pm-7pm and I’m not wasting it grocery shopping
I wonder if it’s the right play to get Discover cards before the transition.. especially for those who have a difficult time getting approved for C1 cards.
I’m an existing C1 customer with the VX but, like many others here I am unable to get approved for anything else…
Capital One is almost as unwilling to do product changes as it is to issue new cards to people like us.
Things are definitely changing for consumers. I’m slowly moving my bank accounts out of discover.
Hopefully Capital One just switches all their cards to the Discover network and keeps Discover’s 5x cards. Discover actually has the broadest network because they can transact on UnionPay (China and a lot of places in rest of world), JCB, and Diner’s Club, etc. The issue is a lot of merchants in these countries don’t really want to process it because they think it’s a foreign card you have to tell them to “process it like UnionPay” etc.
Unionpay doesn’t actually work for Discover cards in China. I tried to use my Discover card in Asia, anywhere which had UnionPay or Diners Club logos, and 90% of the time it didn’t work. And I do tell them to “process it like UnionPay” yet it still never works.
Diners Club is a mess because Diners Club has a different owner in every country. My Discover card doesn’t work in most places which had a Diners Club sticker.
It might help if there was an Unionpay logo on the back of the Discover card. But international acceptance of Discover is almost nonexistent. It’s worse than Amex acceptance.
this is news to me because i was under the impression that you can just use your discover card as if it were a UnionPay or JCB card. JCB is everywhere in Japan and southeast asia and ive read some instances where people were about to use their Discover debit card at places like McDonalds and even to withdraw cash at ATMs.
Maybe at certain places in Japan, but not all. I’ve tried to use my Discover card in Taiwan, HK, Macau, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc. and it would usually not work if there was an UnionPay or JCB sticker. Even if there is a Diners Club sticker, Discover will usually never work in Asia or Europe.
Discover/Capital One should reach a much more comprehensive deal with JCB or UnionPay. They could put the JCB or UnionPay logo on the back, and make it a dual network card.
Or maybe Capital One should ditch the Discover branding, and go all in to rebranding as the Diners Club network. Diners Club already has more brand recognition outside of the USA, so all Capital One has to do is rebrand Discover into Diners Club, and invest more in Diners Club overseas.
How could they just rebrand into Diners Club when Diners Club USA is owned by BMO and C1 literally has nothing to do with the brand?
No thanks, while I just recently found out the Discover network has partnerships in other countries (networks like JCB) all of these partnerships appear to be exclusively in Asian countries and not all of us do all or any travel there. For all other continents it’s mostly either Visa or MasterCard
Hope your Discover accounts don’t reset the clock to churn Cap1’s products
You make a great point. I wonder if I should close all of my Discover Checking & Savings accounts before the end of 2025. I don’t really have any use for them anyway. What do you think?
After all these years….
They finally discover what’s in your wallet !!
Do I get a discount on drinks at Cap one cafe’s now? 🙂
I would assume they will start adding Capital One stickers to the back of Discover cards so that you could get the discount.