Capital One Financial Corp. has bought Discover Financial Services, bringing together two of the biggest credit card firms so they can better compete with other Wall Street behemoths. The takeover was valued at $35 billion when it was announced in February 2024.

Many banks, including Capital One, stopped offering debit card rewards after the Durbin amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 placed a cap on interchange fees – often called swipe fees – that banks can charge merchants for debit card transactions. This cut into the banks' revenues, and many adjusted by eliminating rewards.

Capital One finalized its $35.3 billion purchase of Discover on Sunday, completing a credit card mega-merger announced more than a year ago. Nothing will immediately change for Discover customers, according to a press release issued Sunday by Capital One.