The news: Some Capital One debit cardholders feel dissatisfied with the shift from Mastercard to the Discover network, per The Wall Street Journal.

• Cardholders who frequent small businesses found acceptance issues at checkout.
• Others hit issues paying monthly subscriptions with a Discover card.
• Discover-backed debit cards have limited acceptance for instant transfers, barring users from linking to payment apps like Venmo.
• And cardholders who travel internationally find it hard to use their debit products abroad.

Why this matters: Capital One’s debit card migration onto Discover was the first wave before converting its credit card portfolio. 

These snags need to be remedied before its credit products flip onto Discover; they generate major revenues and epitomize Capital One’s brand. Venture X, the issuer’s premium card, centers on travel—meaning Capital One has to expand its newly acquired networks if cardholders want to venture beyond the US.

It also represents the slow-going process for the issuer to reap the benefits of owning its own network. Capital One will save on fees over the long run moving its portfolio to Discover, but lacks the global acceptance network to complete the process quickly, which grants a reprieve to Mastercard and Visa.

Our take: Taking a slow, comprehensive approach to changing card products is critical to maintaining cardholder trust and loyalty. Consumers need assurance that their card will be accepted wherever they shop.

Competing issuers can flex their cards’ stability through the Mastercard-Visa duopoly or emphasize their broadening acceptance internationally, like American Express. As travel becomes a tentpole feature of premium rewards, emphasizing acceptance in far-flung locales can entice high-spending wealthy consumers to stick with issuers on major network providers, instead of using a smaller competitor.