Capital One Credit card change - should I?

Others may disagree, but I don't find Discover Card very useful when out of the US.

You can find several cash back cards with Visa or MasterCard that have no foreign transaction fees.

Discover network has been a popular topic here lately. Seems very few shops in Europe will accept cards on that network. I expect Discover will claim it will be accepted "soon", but I wouldn't count on that (just my opinion). All of this cash back stuff on U.S. credit cards is paid for with higher user fees charged to the business accepting the cards for payment. As much as 3% or 4%. I've read that the EU limits card fees on Europe cards to a much smaller percentage, so European cards don't give the cash back deals the U.S. customers get.

Before you make a decision, Luv2Travel, I would think about where you mostly use it. I don't know how much time you spend traveling each year, but generally when I travel, I don't make a lot of purchases in grocery stores and gas stations. I do sometimes, but overall, probably 90% of my purchases are going to be at home.

So I guess I would think about where you're spending this money and whether that extra 3% would work for you 75% of the year at home.

Luv2 travel, have you considered having one credit card primarily for US use another (or two so you have back up) for International travel?

For International travel the Chase Sapphire Preferred works quite well. Although it has a $95 annual fee, it also has a $100 hotel credit back to your account once a year. Use their travel portal to reserve one hotel room a year and it is basically free.

You earn points which can be redeemed in a variety of ways including cash back at 1%.

As soon as they tell me "you are going to Discover" I am going to tell them "nope I am going to another bank" Discover is basically useless outside the USA

I got a notification that my card would automatically be charged (current card cancelled and new card issued in September) unless I opted out. Like many, I got this card many years ago specifically due to the no foreign transaction fees. So frustrating that they’re doing this!

On Capital One's 2nd quarter earnings call in July, the executive team said...

• the migration of debit cards to the Discover network is complete
• the company had been testing migration of credit cards from MC/VISA to the Discover network
• the first major wave of credit card migrations will occur in late July 2026 with 2 subsequent waves in October 2026 and January 2027
• the goal is to have most credit cards migrated to Discover network by early 2027 except for Venture X and some business-affiliated cards (T-mobile, Kohl's, Bass Pro Shops) that will stay on the VISA system FOR NOW
• customers with minimal history of international travel use will be migrated first
• Capital One plans to "slope" migration of credit cards to the Discover network with expansion of international acceptance with priority for the latter given to the four destinations most in demand: Mexico, Canada, the UK, and the Caribbean

I have Capital One and just got myself the Chase Sapphire a few months ago for this reason. I am still using the Capital One for some purchases for now as I have a ton of points I need to use up. Even though Chase has the $95 annual fee, I'm already saving by using the card for car rentals which will cover me for the insurance. Capital One had done away with this benefit a few years back. I think if you look at Chase, their benefits (for now) are superior to Capital One.

Discover is not widely accepted in Europe. That's why I got rid of my Cap One debit (which had switched to Discover network) and have stopped using their Visa card regularly. I switched to the Amazon Prime Chase Visa, which has a cash back option and different earning categories. There are many other options though, use a site like NerdWallet https://www.nerdwallet.com/credit-cards/compare or the PointsGuy https://thepointsguy.com/credit-cards/cash-back/ to see what options might work for you and your credit situation. If you keep your eye out you may find some have bonus offers (there was a good one when I got my Chase card). FWIW I also have a Schwab account that comes with a debit card with no international ATM fees (or they're refunded if you're charged) in the chance I need to get cash.

You guys always come through with great info plus things I hadn’t really thought about.
MANY thanks, I’ll leave as is and if/once they force a change to Discover, we’ll be finding a new card for sure.

I have been a loyal Capital One bank person and V/MC holder until the push/migration to Discover. I recently opened a Charles Schwab Checking account to use for getting cash out in other countries, without worry about fees. We travel annually to Mexico and try to get to Europe every other year. I hope they don't swap out the Venture X, but I will consider finding another card and leaving Capital One altogether if they do that. Or at least not using their cards as I know cancelling cards impacts your CC score. Very frustrating behavior on their part.

There is a significant amount of "secret" acceptance of Discover by retailers in the UK — secret in the sense that they don't publish it anywhere. Examples include Tesco & Sainsbury's.

This is a byproduct of Barclaycard rolling acceptance of Discover into their merchant services. Barclaycard has the biggest market share of processing, albeit generally with large companies. I suppose they don't advertise it as they might well switch one day to a different provider with no Discover provision.

Few positively promote Discover — the only one I can think of off the top of my head is Harrods!