Capital One Cards May Be Less Useful Overseas
The Capital One purchase of Discover has been chugging along for a while now, but mostly nothing has changed for end users so far. They have started rolling out that certain cards would be moving to the Discover network. But we haven’t really felt what that would be like going forward. For a company that is pushing the travel Venture, Venture X and Venture X Business heavily – I do feel like this could be an issue. I had a recent experience that proved just that and I worry Capital One cards may be less useful overseas. Or, at least they might be very soon.
Capital One Debit Card
I have had my Capital One debit card for a very long time. So long that it was an ING Direct debit account for years before Capital One took it over. It was a great backup to the Charles Schwab Debit Card. It wasn’t quite as good though, since you still had to pay the ATM fee. Capital One wouldn’t charge you their own fee though, which made it a solid backup.
I have had the Charles Schwab debit card fail at international ATMs at times, so I always bring my Capital One card too. This trip I only brought the Capital One debit because there was no money in the Charles Schwab account when we left. I didn’t feel like moving things around last minute, even though it is much easier with Zelle now. In the past you had to plan like a week before travel to ensure it hit your Schwab account.
Capital One Cards May Be Less Useful Overseas:Â Denials While Abroad
I tried to pull out a little cash in Poland and Ireland just to have some walking around money and some small bills for tips etc. Each time I tried to withdraw I got an error. I figured it was just some international thing, but did find it weird. I had never had my Capital One debit card fail at an ATM in almost 20 years. Luckily, I didn’t really need any cash during the trip and my friends had cash when needed to cover me.
Realizing What Happened When I Got Home
I kind of moved on with life during the trip and didn’t think much more of it. That was until I got to the Capital One Lounge in Dulles (the worst of them all unfortunately). I had to add my debit card for an insurance payout for our recently totaled card. The option for debit payout failed because it wasn’t a Visa or Mastercard. That is when I flipped the card over and realized it said Discover network on the back. I had not noticed that when I received my updated card. I had assumed it was still a Mastercard during all of this.
A Sign Of Things To Come
Discover is probably less accepted overseas than American Express, and that is saying something. I think Capital One needs to be super careful here. I won’t be taking my Capital One debit card overseas with me any more unless they gain a lot more acceptance. That would likely be the same decision when it comes to my Venture X Business if it changes over too. Capital One needs to lower interchange fees or do something to get more market share overseas. Otherwise a whole lot of international travelers will be keeping their cards in the sock drawer when heading out on expensive trips.
Maybe they will keep their travel focused cards on the Visa and Mastercard network for the time being. I would say the debit card should have been included in that already though.
Capital One Cards May Be Less Useful Overseas
I should have considered that Capital One cards may be less useful overseas before, but having it hit close to home has made it more prevalent in my thoughts for sure. I guess I figured it would be a slower rollout, and Capital One would be spending tons of time and money expanding their reach overseas in the mean time. I don’t like that they made my back up debit card pretty much useless overseas with these changes. I don’t want that to happen to my back up overseas credit card too (Venture Business X). We will have to see how they progress with all of that though. I guess it has to be a part of the plan with the focus of the Discover purchase being to lower their processing costs.
Let me know if you think Capital One card may be less useful overseas down below or in the MTM Facebook Group.
