Back when I was shopping (2022) for a good secured credit card, I consulted NerdWallet among other sites. I found that Discover Card offered good deals for newbies, as well as some sweet cash-back bonuses.

Then I found out why the deals were so so good: Discover Card has low acceptance, especially internationally, and this is often because Discover charges relatively high transaction fees. I also learned that Discover, despite its reputation and age, had only one physical branch, in Delaware or something, and so my inner masochist immediately recognized my true financial love.

I also picked up a Discover Bank checking account, which has even lower acceptance rates, but also offers 1% cash-back if I feel like an adventure.

Since then, Discover eliminated their sole physical branch location, and their credit card division was also acquired by Capital One, https://m.xkcd.com/2206/

But I feel like the proliferation now of Apple/Google/Samsung Pay, Zelle, PayPal, Venmo, et al., will stave off any large-scale gouging of consumers through transaction fees.

Apple/Google/Samsung Pay are primarily used to link to credit cards, and the transaction still run through the card. Zelle is owned by a group of banks. PayPal and Venmo are the same company and in some areas, like Australia, they directly handle in-person payments, but in the US those payments are run through a debit card network, for regulatory reasons.

Discover is widely accepted in South Korea thanks to a nationwide partnership with BC Card and Woori Card networks. That was kinda nice when I visited.

I liked Discover. They were one of the few issuers that supported seeing transaction history in the Apple Wallet app. Now with the Capital One acquisition they are dropping that.