Posted by William Charles on February 8, 2016
Credit Cards

Published on February 8th, 2016 | by William Charles

35

17 Things Everybody Should Know About Discover Credit Cards

Discover is a bit unique, they run their own payment network and also issue their own credit cards. In this post we’ll look at X things everybody should know about these credit cards, but we’re only looking at cards that Discover issues not cards that run on their payment network.

The List

  1. Discover doesn’t offer retention bonuses, but you can get spending bonuses on their cards. Because they don’t have any annual fees, they don’t really offer any retention bonuses but you can call and ask if they have any spending bonuses tied to your account. You can also check online at http://www.discover.com/myoffers. Usually a good idea to check online & call.
  2. You can view what cards you’re pre-approved for online. They offer more cards than you might think (e.g Discover it, Discover it Chrome, Discover it Secured & Discover it Miles)
  3. You can have a maximum of two credit cards issued by Discover. Your first account needs to be open for a year before the second can be opened and you can only have one student card. This also means that multiple inquiries won’t be merged, as you can only apply for one card at a time.
  4. Discover does a soft pull for small credit limit increases and a hard pull for big credit limit increases. Basically if they counter what you asked for then it’s a hard pull.
  5. Relocating credit limits is a soft pull if done at the time of a new application. If it’s just for existing cards, it depends. Keep in mind both cards need to have a minimum credit limit of $500.
  6. If you’re denied for a Discover credit card, call their reconsideration department. They might be able to approve you by answering a few questions, as always read this guide first.
  7. It’s possible to churn Discover credit card bonuses. In the past they’ve offered a $150 bonus on the Discover it card and they currently double your cash back for the first year, that could be a good option for those that’ll max out their 5% categories or make use of their portal often.
  8. Discover reports for statement balance to credit bureaus. They’ll also report off cycle if you contact them directly, this can be extremely useful if you need to lower your credit utilization in a hurry for FICO scoring purposes.
  9. You can also change your payment due date online. Just keep in mind this doesn’t change the date that your balance is reported to credit bureaus (see above).
  10. Discover will usually match sign up bonuses. If they don’t, make sure you escalate to a manager.
  11. Discover offers a referral program. The person you refer receives $50 and so do you, this will be doubled if you have that bonus attached to your account. You’re limited to 10 referrals per year.
  12. Discover does not issue an instant credit card number.
  13. Discover lets you product change to their different credit cards. It doesn’t look like there are any rules requiring like this minimum length the card needs to be opened before it can be changed. You can’t product change to/from Discover it Miles currently.
  14. Discover won’t approve you with a frozen credit report. They also won’t accept a temporary PIN over the phone; you’ll have to unfreeze it on your end.
  15. Discover says that they don’t report balances from business credit cards to the credit bureaus which is useful for keeping your credit report cleaner.
  16. You can check your credit card’s application status with Discover online.
  17. If you have auto pay set up with Discover they will proceed to do the auto-pay for the full statement balance if you pay it partially before. However, if you pay in full, they’ll cancel the system will cancel the auto-pay.

Things We Aren’t Sure About

The great thing about these lists in the past has been that we’ve been able to get data points on things we aren’t sure about. If you know the answer to any of these questions, let us know in the comments below.

Final Thoughts

Hopefully you found this helpful, let us know if you can answer any of the questions we have above. Are there any things about Discover credit cards that you think we missed? If so let us know in the comments. We’ve also done the same thing for other credit card issuers, these can be viewed below:


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35 Responses to 17 Things Everybody Should Know About Discover Credit Cards

  1. Ce says:
    February 8, 2016 at 9:54 am

    I know someone that product changed from a really old Discover card (think different millennium) to Discover it last year for the double cashback promotion.

    Sent a new card with the same number, I believe.

    Reply
  2. Randy says:
    February 8, 2016 at 10:19 am

    #7 Seems to imply that there are Catagory Bonuses for the Discover It card – which I don’t see. I see it on my Discover card – but not the Discover It card. Are you sure the It card gets the bonuses?

    Reply
  3. Shaun says:
    February 8, 2016 at 10:49 am

    Any reports of someone not having anything listed on http://www.discover.com/myoffers but having an offer on their account when they call and ask?

    Reply
  4. jnrfalcon says:
    February 8, 2016 at 12:39 pm

    Done PC from Chrome to regular Discover it. I had it for only around half a year before making that PC. And it’s very easy, just chat with them online.

    Reply
  5. Alonso says:
    February 8, 2016 at 2:50 pm

    I applied for my second Discover card last year with a frozen Equifax. They called me and told me I needed to unfreeze that credit bureau before they continued the application process.

    Reply
  6. Joe-SC1 says:
    February 8, 2016 at 7:09 pm

    Another data point on successful product change:

    Obtained Discover Miles (the old one, not “It Miles”) in October 2012. Completed 12 monthly purchases for 12,000 miles.

    I converted that card to Discover It on June 1, 2015 to coincide with the double cash back promotion. (Unknown if they counted the conversion as a new customer or existing – as the promotion allowed both at that time.) My card number did not change, but some minor terms did. They also converted the 12,000+ miles to cash at $0.01 per mile automatically.

    Cheers.

    Reply
  7. @points2travel says:
    February 8, 2016 at 9:47 pm

    Can I get a second Discover it card, or it has to be a different card (i.e discover miles)?

    Reply
  8. DGS says:
    May 3, 2016 at 12:55 pm

    I have an old Discover Motiva. If i get a Discover It, will the cash rewards from both cards be combined? Will i be able to access both accounts with the same login?

    Reply
  9. Mark Zhang says:
    June 3, 2016 at 7:54 pm

    Here’s one DP info that you might wanna add to the list as a sub-entry. I can now confirm that even though every person can have up to two Discover cards, they only allow one of the two to be the STUDENT version.
    I recently ventured to apply for a second Discover IT student card and was declined directly, wasting one HP. The letter arrived today, having the only reason of “THE NUMBER OF ACCOUNTS WITH DISCOVER FINANCIAL SERVICES”. By calling the recon line, the rep confirmed it was the restriction on the number of student cards.

    Reply
    • Nate says:
      September 4, 2016 at 3:20 am

      This just happened to me too when trying to get the Discover It Miles as a student, except my rep couldn’t explain why I was hitting a one card limit and suggested I just apply later on. Any luck on getting them to consider you outside of being a student?

      Reply
  10. Andrey says:
    October 13, 2016 at 3:49 pm

    Recently tried to shift CL from one card (It) to another (It Miles) via online chat, CSR said it was not possible. A new policy or just out of her mind?

    Reply
  11. John K says:
    October 21, 2016 at 9:52 am

    Just got an email from Discover informing me that they’ve increased my Credit Line. Did the math and its a $1,300.00 increase. I haven’t requested an increase. What is the likelihood this will ping my credit?

    Reply
    • YRK says:
      December 7, 2016 at 11:31 pm

      John K, it wont badly affect your score as its not a hard pull . Will help in your Utilization ratio so will help in your score unless you keep more balance.
      Discover gave me three Auto CLI in last 6 months. one being 1k, second 3k and other just yesterday being 300$. All soft pulls

      Reply

  12. Pingback: Discover IT $75 Public Signup Bonus - Doctor Of Credit

  13. Terry says:
    January 1, 2017 at 12:56 pm

    Just applied for Discover It three docs link/amazon, they required upload photos of proof of address and social security card. Said they will let me know in 5-7 days. Anyone had this happen? I’m starting to worry about identity theft…

    Reply
  14. Sparky says:
    January 11, 2017 at 10:04 am

    Called twice and wouldn’t let me get the double first year bonus by product changing from Discover More to Discover IT.

    Reply
  15. PG says:
    January 30, 2017 at 5:48 pm

    Have called twice and been told that Discover doesn’t do reconsiderations. First csr said she couldn’t reconsider it and 2nd (a nice sounding woman) said they don’t do them in general. Just did a quick google search and that is the consensus of what I read. Wait at least 30 days and apply again being the main recourse.

    Reply
    • AC says:
      February 8, 2017 at 2:27 am

      Same here called a few times they say no recon team. Looks like if you were declined because of something they don’t like on your report there’s no recon

      Reply
  16. Superchurn says:
    April 24, 2017 at 3:46 pm

    DP:

    spoke to Discover today about PCing from the DiscoverIT to DiscoverIT Miles. Both reps I spoke to said they COULD convert from an IT card to an IT Miles card, but that the Cash Match promo only applied to new applications. So no luck on getting the Match twice through a PC.

    But they did say I could get the Match again if I applied separately for an IT Miles card and was approved.

    3% is pretty tasty for a No AF card…decisions decisions…

    Reply
  17. tc says:
    May 27, 2017 at 9:56 pm

    Just confirmed with a rep that discover does not do reconsiderations for denied apps. Thought I’d pass along the information!

    Reply
  18. Trippy says:
    June 28, 2017 at 4:35 pm

    Got two CL increases in consecutive months. I had received my card in Feb (Student IT) with $1250 limit. Asked for an increase last month and it became $1700, Asked again this month and got a further $500 increase.

    Reply
  19. MP says:
    July 20, 2017 at 9:52 pm

    Discover CC has great, US-based customer service! They pick up on first ring. They’ll stand up for you if you get into any trouble with merchants. I used to use the card exclusively for many years and still do sometimes, particularly if I order something from an unknown merchant, but they’re just not competitive anymore… The rotating categories haven’t included groceries or gas for a long time and that’s where most ordinary people’s money goes. The deals are great if one shops a lot online, but I don’t. I don’t believe they cheat on the cash back, but it’d be nice to show it listed and itemized, like other cards do. The availability of the cash back for payments on Amazon is convenient, but not essential.

    Reply
  20. Pat S says:
    July 24, 2017 at 4:09 pm

    So I’m interested in a new CC for my Disney trip. I missed the rotating categories for discover at wholesale clubs. Any ideas of a card can double cash back that would give me 5-10% savings on my purchases?

    Reply
  21. Justin says:
    August 13, 2017 at 9:52 pm

    Was able to call in immediately after getting my Miles app approved to move credit from my It to my new Miles. Took a long time and took 2 transfers but they were able to do it.

    Reply

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