View or download a PDF of the fact sheet here.

The proposed Capital One takeover of Discover would create a mammoth bank that would undermine competition, raise prices, and harm consumers. The merger would create the biggest credit card lender — holding nearly one-third of credit card loans to consumers with non-prime credit scores — and put Capital One in a position to use its market power to raise prices on virtually captive consumers. The unique vertical elements of the merger — combining a bank with a credit and debit card network — would entrench Capital One as a dominant high-cost credit card issuer and raise costs for merchants and consumers. Far from injecting competition into credit card markets, it would merely re-arrange the oligopoly and would worsen competition as Capital One’s higher-prices displaced Discover’s more affordable cards. Antitrust and banking regulators should make every effort to block the transaction.