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About LinkBacksDoes Sears still accept Discover Card payments at their stores? I have had conflicting answers from people.
I used to have a BRAVO card and a PRIVATE ISSUE (telling my age) and I remember that was so convenient cause there is a Sears walking distance from where I live.
Thread: Discover Card & Sears
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Discover Card & Sears
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Sears does still accept Discover credit cards for payment. Did you know that Sears is who created Discover before being spun off into a separate entity? Here you can read about the history of Discover credit cards.
Originally Posted by exc1976
What year did the end the Discover Private Issue card? I do remember they had celebrity artists create designs for that card at one point during its tenure. I don't recall the Bravo card though?
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I am aware that Sears helped create Discover.
The Bravo card was a (somewhat) exclusive credit card from Discover. It had 2 separate credit lines... one for balance transfers/checks and one for charges. Bravo only reported your "purchase" credit line to the 3 bureaus. For example, if your "purchase" credit line was 5000, your credit line in your "reserve" credit line was 2500 (usually half of your "purchase" credit line). It was a nice card, but I did not like how Discover closed the account instead of converting it to a different type of Novus card at the time. It was a big deal to the people that had the Bravo card and were told that the card was discontinued after 12/31/1998.
I think (but I am not sure) that the Private Issue MAY have worked the same way. Private issue had a handful of designs to choose from different celebrities/artists like Jerry Garcia and Jane Seymour. I didn't have Private issue for long.
I have attached a URL to the launch of the short lived Bravo Card.
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OOps... here is the link
Bravo Card
Thanks for the info on Sears and Discover, glad to know that!
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UPDATED LINK: Bravo Card
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The Discover Bravo card sounds like a very innovative concept. I imagine they discontinued it after realizing the duel tier interest rates applied to different categories of spending were less profitable than a single tier interest rate. The press release also made mention of the ability to skip a payment which I think is another convenient feature, although too risky for this current economy.
I attempted a Google image search for the Discover Bravo card to no luck. I would imagine the design is more upscale than the casual designs Discover does today? What Discover is lacking right now is a credit card marketed as upscale- they really ought to consider doing one again.
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It's not that Discover cards aren't good because you do need high credit scores to qualify for them and they have good customer service and benefits. What makes them seem lower class than what they are is how they are designed. When the cards are all bright colors and have things like panda bears and sharks on the front of the cards for the design you can only take 'em so seriously, ya know?
OBAMA
Stop talking crap about him!
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Discover Financial did the "fun" designs deliberately. They needed to be different and set themselves apart from the competition and that is how they chose to do it.
Of course, the argument would be whether it hurts or helps overall. It may bring in a certain customer base but also may alienate others who desire a sterile design or a prestigious credit card appearance. The last few years Discover's market share has remained relatively the same so it's hard to judge whether or not they made the best decision.
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Discover certainly does fit a niche! Their reward credit cards are a big selling point too - offering rewards that are many times higher and in more categories. I would say that is their number one selling point. They do the lighthearted card designs to capture that market. Then let's not forget that the were the first to make no annual fee standard, now that's a given but when Discover began it wasn't. I wouldn't necessarily say the route they are going is a bad one though. Sure they don't have a premium credit card so to speak but now isn't the environment to come out with one that's for sure. They could consider though to do a premium card once the economy turns around.
Disclosure: I am a moderator/paid staff of this site, which does have advertising relationships with some credit cards that are discussed. Regardless, anything I say is my honest opinion.
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Sears Roebucks aint doing the best right now. No one has the money to buy new fridges, dishwashers, tvs and that kind of stuff. There stock has got some room to drop if you're looking for a short play. That baby trades at 20 times earnings and you don't see that anymore nowadays. Insiders are selling like crazy too.
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