Question for Amex and Discover Cardholders

[Anonymous]

Do you ever worry about your card not being accepted, especially if you travel? Does this prompt you to carry a backup?

Do you ever feel that way with a VISA or MasterCard?

[Anonymous]

never had to choose a different network when trying to use my discover or amex in my area except at the library once and one subway didn't accept discover (but that's the only one i have noticed)

most places accept them, even if it doesn't have the sticker.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Do you ever worry about your card not being accepted, especially if you travel? Does this prompt you to carry a backup?

Do you ever feel that way with a VISA or MasterCard?

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When you travel it's a good idea to have more than one card, regardless of type, in case one is denied for whatever reason.  There really arent that many places that don't accept Amex or Discover in today's markets.  Occasionally you'll see small businesses that wont accept Amex because of the higher merchant fees but most major businesses accept them.  Now if you're travelling internationally, it can be  acompletely different situation and it's bes to check ahead to see what is and isn't accepted in the country(ies) that you'll be visiting.

[Anonymous]

^ i didn't touch the points of international as i never have used a card. mexico likes the american dollar so they screw us over lol.

[Kevin86475391]

Personally I always carry my main 4 cards anyway - of which 1 is a Discover, 2 Visa, 1 MC - because I like to maximize rewards depending on what I'm buying. Rarely, I'll be somewhere that doesn't accept Discover, but it's rather uncommon. When it does happen I just grab a different one. Similarly the other day the Visa card I wanted to use got declined because it had expired and I'd forgotten to activate the new card they sent (LOL, like 3 or 4 months prior - totally on me obviously...It was around the time everyone was sending out the new chip cards and honestly I was just 'card-activating fatigued.'). A few times I've had fraud on my accounts and had a card not go through due to that. So I always believe in carrying multiple backups regardless. It wouldn't matter what network, lender, card product, CL, etc. a given card had, I'd always feel uncomfortable relying on just one card.

[Anonymous]

In my experience in my local area, I've only run into one instance where a place didn't accept Discover.  Everywhere else has not been a problem.

If I were to go overseas, I would take both my Discover and my QS1 just in case.  

[Anonymous]

Nowadays it's important to carry more than one for other reasons as well: (1) Fraud -- hand your card to a gas station attendant in NJ and there's a good chance you'll need to use a different card the next day; (2) Fraud Prevention -- travel can trigger false fraud alerts, rendering your card unusable until you contact the bank and let them know that you are indeed in that different location.

[Anonymous]

^ if you inform your card companies of your plans then you shouldn't have that issue

[NRB525]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Do you ever worry about your card not being accepted, especially if you travel? Does this prompt you to carry a backup?

Do you ever feel that way with a VISA or MasterCard?

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Yes. A colleague from europe tried to use his American Express Gold card (apparently the only CC he travels with) to pay for his dinner in Panama, and had to dig out some cash... "no habla AMEX". My VISA Hyatt was fine.

Taking my beloved Diners Premier Chip+PIN card to europe tomorrow, along with Discover just to see if it works to pay for the trains... for local transportation 5% back.

[Jarrodpd]

Directed at the previous poster, ^. I hope it's not the regular gold card, that has a 2.7% FTF. 

Posted from iphone, accidentally pressed post without quoting and couldn't delete the post to fix it.