I found a very interesting article about Discover on pymnts.com. There were lots of interesting tidbits there, here are two of them.
Discover Travel Card?
Discover CEO David Nelms is quoted as mentioning that a new non-cashback Discover card is coming in early 2015.
Nelms also wouldn’t discuss a new card product that Discover will launch in early 2015. “The one thing I would say is that we do think our Discover It platform is something that can be leveraged into other products that have some of the advantages that Discover It offers, including free FICOs and pricing features,” he said, “but maybe something a little different than our traditional cash-back bonus program.”
If it’s not cash-back then we’d have to guess it’s a travel rewards card. The big question remains if it will be a fixed-value type program or a real partnership with an airline/hotel.
I would say personally that I love Discover customer service. If they really introduce a worthwhile card rewards-wise it would really be something to consider, despite the more limited acceptance that Discover has versus Visa and Mastercard.
Discover Redemptions
Another interesting thing mentioned there is that Discover took a hit due to their new liberal reward redemption terms… to the tune a $178 million.
At first, I assumed that they were referring to the fact that Discover now allows redemptions with no minimum, as low as 1¢. I was shocked that this would result in $178 million hit. After taking a closer look at the article, it says there that the new redemption threshold was only one enhancement that Discover added. They also added that they won’t strip rewards from delinquent account and from closed/inactive accounts. I’d suspect that this second factor was a large contributor, especially if it works retroactively as well.
All of us Old Blue Amex cardholders are praying that Amex learns from Discover and allows closed accounts to redeem rewards.
Seems like a lot of speculation…I’ll wait to see what it actually is, if anything
Yeah, definitely speculative.
Very interested and looking forward to the potential Discover travel card! Please keep us updated once it comes true
We hope to! Hopefully it will be a good card.
Amex absolutely allows the cashback earned (prior to accounts being closed) to be paid out. It’s not an easy process, but they definitely allow it.
Yeah, I’ve heard it’s possible. Thanks