Discover® Open Road® Credit Card
  |
|
The Discover® Open Road® Credit Card might be the ideal card for you.
Company Information:
Discover Card is one of the 4 major credit card companies in the
UNited States with over 50 million cardholders. Originally
introduced by the Sears Department Store in 1985, and is today
operated by Morgan Stanley. In December 2006, Morgan Stanley
announced that it would spin-off Discover into its own standalone
company by the end of September 2007. Discover is headquartered in
the Chicago suburb of Riverwoods, Illinois.
Most cards with the Discover brand are issued by Discover Bank,
which also offers savings products and home loans. Discover Card
transactions are processed through the Discover Network payment
network. As of February 2006, the company announced that it would
begin offering Discover Debit cards to banks, made possible by the
Pulse payment system, which Discover acquired in 2004.
It is anticipated that, following its spin-off, Discover will retain
the MasterCard-branded Goldfish credit card business in the United
Kingdom, which Morgan Stanley acquired from Lloyds TSB in December
2005.
At the time the Discover Card was introduced, Sears was the
largest retailer in the United States. It had purchased the Dean
Witter Reynolds Organization (brokerage) and Coldwell, Banker &
Company (real estate) in 1981, as an attempt to add financial
services to its portfolio of customer services. Together with the
Discover Card, this was named the Sears Financial Network. Early
Discover Cards issued to Sears executives bore a small embossed
symbol representing the Sears Tower, the company's headquarters at
the time, when this symbol was recognized by a Sears cashier it
meant that a discount was to be given at the time of purchase.
Unlike other attempts at creating a credit card to rival MasterCard
and VISA, such as Citibank's Choice card, which was test-marketed
prior to the introduction of the Discover Card but reissued as a
Visa card in late 1987, the Discover Card quickly gained a large
national consumer base. It carried no annual fee, which was uncommon
at the time, and offered a typically higher credit limit than
similar cards. Cardholders could earn a "Cashback Bonus," in which a
percentage of the amount spent would be refunded to the account (as
high as 1%), depending on how much the card was used. The Discover
Card was also noteworthy for being the only credit card accepted by
the U.S. Customs Service to pay customs duty.
However, the plan to create a one-stop financial-services center in
Sears stores was not as successful as Sears had hoped, and its
promotion of the Discover Card was thought both to hurt Sears
turnover and to restrict the card's potential. Other retailers
resisted it, as they believed they would be helping their
competitor. After Discover was introduced, Sears stopped accepting
competing credit cards, alienating customers and adversely affecting
sales.
In light of these developments, and of strong competition both from
Wal-Mart and from so-called category killers such as Toys "R" Us,
Sears began to face difficulties in the late 1980s. Sears sold its
financial businesses in 1993, and began to accept MasterCard and
Visa again. The Discover Card became part of the Dean Witter
financial services firm. Dean Witter Discover merged with Morgan
Stanley in 1997.
Discover Card also has a sign located on the top of One Times Square
below the flagpole which drops the New Year's ball. It displays
information and new offers for the company and also displays the
countdown during the New Year celebration.