|
credit cards where in use, issued by 85,000 institutions in the US and overseas.
American Express differed from other credit cards in that most of its products were actually
charge cards - in which the full balance had to be paid at the end of every month. It launched its
first credit card called Optima, allowing customers to carry a balance, in 1987.
American Express has primarily targeted high-end consumers for its cards, including offering "luxury credit cards" with membership fees as high as $5,000 a year.
Discover
The infant of the credit card industry, Discover Card was started by the Sears, as the department store
attempted to break into the financial market. The first purchase with a Discover card was in a Sears
store in Atlanta on Sept. 17, 1985 for $26.77. Its official launch came during the 1986 SuperBowl.
|
Discover marketed itself as more consumer-friendly than other credit cards - offering no annual fee,
higher credit limits, cash-back rebates and the ability to pay credit card bills at Sears outlets.
Discover ran into roadblocks, especially with Sears's competitors who did not want to accept the card of
a department store rival. Discover sued rivals MasterCard and Visa alleging their business practices had
kept Discover out of the credit card market.
The credit card was run by Dean Witter, and then Morgan Stanley, until 2007 when it was spun into its
own company, Discover Financial Services. Sears had bought the Dean Witter Reynolds
Unlike its competitors, Discover's main market is in the U.S., although some other countries accept the
card in tourism-related businesses, such as hotels and car rental agencies. To expand its market overseas,
in 2008 Discover bought the Diners Club for 165 million dollars.
|
