Discover it Secured Credit Card Review – Double Cash Back First Year – Best Secured Card

The Discover it secured credit card is the best secured credit card on the market currently. In this review we will show you all the benefits and negatives to having this card, as well as how to apply for it. It’s definitely one of the best cards available to people with poor credit – this is mostly due to the fact it has a good rewards program and no annual fees or application fees. If you’re unfamiliar with what a secured card is or why you’d want one, we’d recommend reading this first. It used to not be able for direct applications, but now it is!

discover it secured credit card review

Interest Rates

Fees

Card Pros

  • Up to 2% cash back
  • Double cash back for first year
  • Free FICO score
  • No annual or sign up fee

Card Cons

  • Doesn’t earn interest on security deposit
  • Reports as a secured card
APR: 23.24% Annual Fee: None
Introductory APR: None Balance Transfer Fee:3%
Introductory APR Length: Only for balance transfers, 10.99% for six months Cash Advance Fee: 10% or $5, whichever is greater
Cash Advance APR: 25.24% Foreign Transaction Fee: Not specified
Penalty APR: None Late Payment Fee: None for first late payment, then $35
Grace Period: 25 days Over The Credit Line: Not specified
Minimum Interest Charge: $0.50 Returned Payment: $35

The secured version of this card is exactly the same as Discover it Chrome card. The only difference is that this version requires you to put a security deposit down. Unlike some other secured cards, this security deposit does not earn interest. The biggest upside to this card is the fact that it has an extremely good rewards program. You earn 1% on all purchases and 2% cash back on gas and restaurants (limit of $1,000 per quarter). It also has a sign up bonus where you earn double rewards for the first year Most secured cards do not have a rewards program and this is by far the best program on offer. For those looking to rebuild their credit score, this card has another great advantage. It comes with a free FICO score, which makes it easy to monitor your progress. This is preferable to a free credit monitoring website because it gives you your actual FICO score which is what lenders look at, rather than a FAKO score which isn’t used by lenders. This card is ideally suited to somebody who has no credit history or a bad credit history and wants to improve their credit score and earn rewards at the same time. It’s easy to see why it was one of the best secured cards and popular with consumers. Quick facts:

Application Information

This card used to not be able to be applied for directly, but Discover has now changed this and you can apply directly.

apply now big

What Credit Bureau Does Discover Pull For The Discover it Secured?

Discover will almost always pull your Equifax credit report, in rare cases they also pull either your TransUnion or Equifax reports.

What Credit Limit Will I Receive?

The credit limit you receive will be dependent on the security deposit you put down. This is not a partially secured card, so whatever security deposit you put down will be your limit. There is a minimum of $200 and a maximum of $2,500. Once your deposit has been put down, it is possible to add additional funds to increase your credit limit.

Minimum Credit Limit Highest Reported Credit Limit Average Credit Limit
$250 $2,500 ?

Rewards Program

As we mentioned, the rewards program this card offers is the best rewards program currently being offered by a secured card. It earns at a flat 1% cash back on all purchases, it also earns at 2% on gas & restaurants ($1,000 spending limit per quarter).

Alternatives To This Card

As mentioned previously, we think this is the best secured credit card currently on the market. The one downside is that it reports as a secured card, which isn’t really a big deal. If you’re looking for another card, it’s probably because you want more than one card on your credit report. We’d recommend using the shopping cart trick to get one of the Comenity credit cards or read this post on the easiest credit cards to get.

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2 Comments
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ALila
ALila (@guest_1014260)
July 11, 2020 02:54

Returned Payment: up to $40

Chritom
Chritom (@guest_998224)
June 14, 2020 21:31

I have a thin history as I’ve only been an authorized user for the past 6 years. My credit score’s otherwise been good. I recently picked up the AmEx BCP, for which I was immediately approved. My EX credit score took a good hit, which would be no surprise to anyone here that’s read through all the info provided, but at that time I hadn’t read those things so…yeah. My EX score is now at 737 (EQ and TU are most definitely much higher), and I have a credit limit of $7200-10000 depending on what you’re looking at. After looking at your preapproval page, I tried that out on some other credit cards I’m looking at. Discover only offered preapproval for the secured card; on the other hand, I tried it on AmEx in incognito mode and didn’t get any preapprovals at all. So, my question is…is it reasonable to think that, aside from the shopping cart trick, a secured card is my best/only option? Like, is it reasonable to think that I’d be denied for a Discover It Cash Back card, or Chase Freedom Unlimited? I don’t want to be denied a card and take more hit to my credit, but I also don’t want to be overly cautious.