Discover 2009 Annual Report Download - page 19

Credit Card Customer Website
Credit card customers can register their accounts online at http://www.discover.com, which offers a range of benefits
and control features that allow them to customize their accounts to meet their own preferences and needs. Key offerings
include:
• Online account services that allow customers to customize their accounts, choose how and when they pay their bills,
create annual account summaries that assist them with budgeting and taxes, research transaction details and initiate
transaction disputes;
• Email reminders to help customers avoid fees and track big purchases or returns;
• Money management tools like the Spend Analyzer, Paydown Planner and Purchase Planner;
• Secure online account numbers that let customers shop online without ever revealing their actual account numbers;
• A listing of third-party providers offering customers auto, homeowner’s and term life insurance as well as home
warranty plans; and
• ShopDiscover, an online portal where customers automatically earn 5–20% Cashback Bonus when they shop at well-
known online merchants using their Discover card.
Brand and Advertising Management
We maintain a full-service, in-house direct marketing department charged with delivering integrated communications
to foster customer engagement with our products and services in addition to supervising external agencies. Our brand
team utilizes consumer insights to define our mass communication strategy, which informs our advertising decisions.
Customer Assistance and Customer Service
We maintain dedicated customer service centers and provide such services to our customers as monitoring and
authorizing transactions and assisting delinquent customers in becoming current.
Authorizations
Each transaction is subject to screening and approval through a proprietary POS decision system. This system utilizes
rules-based decision-making logic, statistical models and data integrity checks to manage fraud and credit risks.
Strategies are subject to regular review and enhancement to enable us to respond quickly to changing credit conditions
as well as to protect our customers and our business from emerging fraud activity.
Fraud Prevention
We actively monitor customer accounts to prevent, detect, investigate and resolve fraud. Our fraud prevention
processes are designed to protect the security of cards, applications and accounts in a manner consistent with our
customers’ needs to easily acquire and use our products. Prevention systems handle the authorization of application
information, verification of customer identity, sales, processing of convenience and balance transfer checks, and
electronic transactions.
Our fraud detection program utilizes a variety of systems and techniques to identify and halt fraudulent transactions,
including neural network and pattern recognition technology, rules-based decision-making logic, report analysis and
manual account reviews. Accounts identified by the fraud detection system are managed by proprietary software that
integrates effective fraud prevention with customer centric service.
Proactive Account Management
We use a variety of collection and recovery strategies, with overdue delinquent accounts scored and segmented to
tailor the collection approach. We employ call campaigns, payment email reminders, flexible payment plans and a
collections website designed to educate customers and assist them with their payment needs.
All monthly billing statements of accounts with past due amounts include a request for payment of such amounts. These
accounts also receive a written notice of late fee charges, as well as an additional request for payment, after the first
monthly statement that reflects a past due amount. Collection personnel generally initiate contact with customers within
30 days after any portion of their balance becomes past due. The nature and the timing of the initial contact, typically a
personal call or letter, are determined by a review of the customer’s prior account activity and payment habits. For higher
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