Discover Lowers Balance Transfer Fee from 4% to 3% On Two Very Popular Cards

Right now, the two most popular cards we recommend are both issued by Discover. They are the:

• Discover 18 Month Promotional Balance Transfer card, which offers 0% intro APR on transferred balances for 18 months, and zero intro APR on new purchases for 6 months
  
  
• Discover® More Card - 15 Month Intro Period card, which offers 0% intro APR on transferred balances AND new purchases for 15 months.

Transfer a balance to either card above, and you used to be subject to a 4% balance transfer fee. No longer. The transfer fee has been lowered to 3% for both cards. You have 6 months to take advantage of the 3% transfer fee -- plenty of time. After that, if you want to perform a transfer, the fee is 5%.

Obviously, the lower transfer fee makes these cards more competitive. But I think Discover is going to have to bring back their 24 Month Balance Transfer card, which offered zero intro APR on transferred balances for a full 2 years, if the company wants to stay ahead of Citi® in the balance transfer game (Discover pulled their 24 Month Promotional card from the market back May.)

Right now, Citi has no less than four credit cards that feature zero percent intro APR on both transferred balances AND new purchases for 21 months, with a transfer fee of 3%. Very competitive. These cards are:

• Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card
• Citi® Platinum Select® Visa®
• Citi® Platinum Select® MasterCard®
• Citi Simplicity® Card

So don't be surprised if Discover reintroduces an ultra-long duration, 0% balance transfer card, or a "no balance transfer fee" 0% card, or a card that combines both competition-trumping benefits, in the near future.

Chase recently upped the ante by introducing a version of its Slate card that features zero percent intro APR on transferred balances for 15 months, with no balance transfer fee. You can find this card at the top of this page.

Despite the increased competition, Discover remains the top choice for visitors who apply for credit accounts via this website. Discover's reputation for offering exceptional customer service ⁽¹⁾ is very appealing to all types of credit consumers. And it doesn't hurt that Discover has (arguably) the best cashback rewards program in the industry.

All of the above cards will be very popular from January through March, as Americans do their best to minimize debt related to holiday shopping. Christmas spending is great for the economy, and it's great for all the kids in your circle of family and friends. But try to take it easy. All things in moderation. The housing sector is still weak, unemployment still elevated and growth remains anemic. If your financial situation is great, then by all means spend away and enjoy all the juicy rewards that credit cards have to offer. If not, then please think twice hard before you upgrade that iPhone or that XBox 360.

As the economy slowly but surely thaws over the next three quarters, credit-card deals will get more and more consumer-friendly...no doubt. Stay tuned, and have yourself a superlative holiday season.

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Discover Receives Prestigious Award for Customer Satisfaction

If you have a Discover credit card, then perhaps today's news really isn't news to you. For those of you thinking about signing up for a Discover credit card, and you really like the idea of a credit-card bank providing first-class customer service, then read on.

Discover just got top honors from the Service Quality Measurement Group (SQM) for providing the best call-center customer service in the credit-card industry. This is no easy feat, as American Express is very well known for their excellent customer service. I guess Discover just stepped up to the plate, and belted out a grand-slam home run.

Another interesting note: with so many American companies outsourcing their call-center business to Asia, it's refreshing that most of Discover's call centers are based right here in the US of A. Kudos! This is significant, considering that the unemployment rate is the US is still painfully close to 10% (the October 2010 figure was 9.6%), and probably won't ease in the near term.

Here's a clip from today's press release:

"...Discover finished with top honors in the first targeted customer service evaluation of credit card industry call centers by Service Quality Measurement Group (SQM), the leading benchmarking firm for more than 450 leading North American call centers.

Discover received SQM's award for Highest Customer Satisfaction for the Credit Card Industry, which was based on 400 random telephone surveys of Discover cardmembers within two business days of their calls to the company. SQM measured whether the call was resolved, the customer's overall satisfaction with the service representative and their overall experience.

'Our commitment to the finest customer service available is a fundamental reason we have the most loyal cardmembers in our industry,' said Carlos Minetti, president of consumer banking and operations for Discover. 'We're honored by SQM's recognition and remain committed to making the necessary investments to maintain our leadership position in customer service.'

Discover employs more than 10,500 people, with the majority based in its call centers in Arizona, Delaware, Ohio and Utah. An industry leader in customer service, Discover won the 'Best Performance Leveraging Customer Service Feedback' category in the 2010 Call Center Excellence Awards from the International Quality & Productivity Center, finished first in the 2010 Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index® for the past 13 years and was recently honored by InformationWeek magazine for creating technology that assists customer service representations during cardmember calls..."

It comes as no surprise to us that Discover has such loyal customers. The feedback we receive from Discover cardholders is invariably very positive. Discover cards offer a lot more value (great cashback rewards, long interest-free periods, etc.) than comparable credit cards offered by other reputable credit-card banks in the American market. That's why we've been recommending them for years. We're quite confident that Discover will continue to provide the kind of customer service that credit consumers want and deserve.

To review a list of the Discover cards we recommend here at www.BalanceTransfer.cc, visit this link.

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