The Discover card is known to millions as the black and orange card. When it first saw the light of day in 1985, the Discover credit card was supposed to be Sears’ answer to Visa and MasterCard. Granted, the company was a bit late in the game but within a few short years the competition that Discover card services provided to the more established cards was phenomenal. Back then, the Discover charge card was the first one to offer a cash back bonus at the end of the year. Thus, if you used your card often, you were rewarded with a larger bonus than if you were to use the competitors’ cards. Similarly, since Sears only accepted Discover credit cards and not Visa or MasterCard, the implied goal was to have repeat business from consumers who were hoping to lay the foundation for a nice year end cash back bonus and who would shop at Sears with their Discover credit card rather than going to a similar retailer who would not yet accept the card.
This very fact also led to the eventual downfall of Discover cards: not very many retailers accepted them. While within the United States many retailers are now accepting this credit card, in the past they were few and far between. As a matter of fact, did you know that even today there are still some merchants who have not yet signed up with Discover? Credit card purchases made outside the United States with a Discover credit card are rare indeed, especially since Europe does not permit for the use of the card except at ATMs.
Today, the Discover card account center permits consumers to pay their Discover card bill online, and while you pay Discover card, you might also want to take a look at the other financial services Discover Bank has to offer. Sears let go of Discover card credit services in 1993 and has since once again accepted the commonly used credit cards. While the company that currently oversees the Discover credit card and accepts Discover card online payments is a bank, it has also made good use of its connections and legal know how to enter into agreements with a host of foreign countries. The Discover card home page illustrates that your Discover credit card account now gives you purchasing power in Mexico and also China. Since Discover is now a bank and not just the brand name of a card anymore, there is also the Discover Master Card as well as the student Discover card.