Fee Hike To Benefit PULSEMembers

HOUSTON - (04/19/05) -- Discover Financial said it israising the PIN-based debit interchange fees it charges card-usersin its recently acquired PULSE EFT Association. The hike in fees,to take effect on June 1, will result in an increase in debitinterchange revenues for PULSE members of an average of 20% overthe current 18 cents-per-transaction flat-fee pricing. Creditunions and banks will continue to pay no switch fee on PULSE PINdebit transactions. PULSE said it is also changing the feestructure for PIN-less Bill Pay transactions, which will result inan average interchange revenue increase for financial institutionsof approximately 28%. The changes were approved by the FinancialInstitution Oversight Committee that was established as a part ofthe sale of PULSE to Discover.