Discover to offer checking and home loans

U.S. lender Discover Financial Services said it would expand its retail menu to look more like a bank. The firm, best known as a credit card company, is the sixth largest lender of revolving credit in the United States, The Chicago Tribune reported. It now offers savings account plans but this week said it would expand into checking accounts and home mortgage lending. Discover said it would originate mortgages that comply with standards spelled out by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., known as Freddie Mac, and the Federal National Mortgage Association, known as Fannie Mae. "Our aspiration is to be as large as Quicken Loans is today," a firm that generates about $30 billion in mortgage origination each year, said Discover's Carlos Minetti, president of consumer banking and operations.