Discover Steps Into the Debit Card Ring

Discover

Steps Into the Debit Card Ring

Discover Financial Services today announced its Discover Debit

offering, which will compete with debit MasterCard and Visa

products being offered by individual financial institutions.

Discover will offer banks the opportunity to issue both consumer

and business debit cards.

Discover

Debit is the first debit program to be offered to financial

institutions since the recent Department of Justice anti-trust

case that enabled financial institutions already issuing credit

or debit cards from Visa and/or MasterCard to issue additional

cards from other brands.

While

Discover's entrance into the market may be a good thing for

banks -- Discover is promising lower costs than those of MasterCard

or Visa -- from a consumer perspective, there is little likelihood

of change, other than the potential to have the Discover logo

show up on your next new debit card.

Debit

card use has been increasing versus the use of credit cards.

Last week MasterCard reported that dollar volume for its debit

programs rose 23.6 percent in 2005.

Published 02/13/06 (Modified 05/07/12)