Discover Card Web Site Registers One Millionth User; Offering Credit Card Account E-mail Reminders to Discover Cardmembers Increases Online Registration

Business Wire, Dec 21, 1999

Business Editors

RIVERWOODS, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 21, 1999

Discover Financial Services today announced that the DiscoverCard.com Account Center has officially registered over one million users. Over 250,000 of them registered in the first 90 days of Discover(R) Card launching Discover Inter@ctive(SM), a feature that offers Cardmembers a menu of free e-mail notifications or reminders to regularly inform them about the status of their Accounts.

Discover Cardmembers, who are registered online with the Discover Card Account Center, are enjoying at least one of the four different e-mail reminders being made available:

--   Nearing Credit Limit - an e-mail reminder that you are
     approaching your Account credit limit, based on a dollar amount
     that you select.

--   Statement Available - this e-mail informs you that a new
     statement has been mailed and your Account Summary, which
     includes detailed account activity, is ready to view online in
     the Account Center.

--   Payment Posted - an e-mail notification that your payment has
     been received and posted to your Discover Card Account.

--   Minimum Payment Not Received - this e-mail alerts you 5-7 days
     prior to your due date if your minimum payment due has not been
     received.

"We are constantly looking for new ways to deliver smart financial services solutions that are easy for our Cardmembers to understand and even easier for them to use," says Colleen Zambole, vice president, Electronic Commerce, Discover Financial Services, Inc. "Discover Inter@ctive is a simple financial management tool that can contribute to Cardmembers' everyday personal and financial well-being."

The Discover Inter@ctive feature is also highlighted in the Discover Card commercial, Friendly Reminder, recently launched on network and cable stations nationwide. In the commercial, a man named Mr. Hill is entertaining a group of people at a restaurant when the maitre d' approaches and asks to speak with Hill privately. At that very moment, the restaurant patrons become silent and all eyes are on Hill. The maitre d' proceeds to inform Hill that his credit card has been DECLINED, news that seems to echo throughout the restaurant and the city at large. The voiceover then asks viewers, "What if a credit card company could send you an e-mail reminder before you reached your credit limit? Discover Card can do just that. A friendly credit limit reminder. There's Always Something More To Discover(SM)."

In addition to the e-mail reminders, the Discover Card Account Center gives Cardmembers free access to their Discover Card account information to check current and past transactions and sort them by date, description or amount, get available balance information. They can also pay their Discover Card bills online via the SmartCheck(SM) payment option at no cost. Also on discovercard.com, Cardmembers can find exclusive online discounts and special Cashback Bonus(R) awards on thousands of products at the Internet ShopCenter(SM).

Discover Financial Services, a business unit of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., operates the Discover Card brands with more than 47 million Cardmembers and the Discover/Novus(R) Network. The Network is the largest independent credit card network in the United States with more than 3.5 million merchant and cash access locations.