Last Updated on 10/26/2020 by GS Staff
Q: Is Discover card a Visa or MasterCard?
Credit cards can be confusing with all of the card options available. You have Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Diner’s Club, department store cards, and many more. But, what about Discover? Is Discover a Visa, MasterCard, or something else?
Discover is its own brand of a credit card. It is not associated with Visa or MasterCard. Discover, Visa, and MasterCard are separate publicly traded companies and compete with each other for their share of the credit card market. Visa trades under the stock symbol (V), MasterCard (MA), and Discover (DFC).
Discover, similar to American Express, issues its credit cards directly to its customer. This is different from Visa and MasterCard who use banks or other financial institutions to issue their credit cards.
Discover falls behind Visa, MasterCard, and American Express in United States market share. According to Forbes, Visa hold a 52.5% market share for credit card purchases in the United States. MasterCard, American Express, and Discover hold a share of 22.1%, 21.5%, and 3.9%, respectively.
Image: MLoperative
