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
- 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.
- 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)
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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).
- Discover will usually match sign up bonuses. If they don’t, make sure you escalate to a manager.
- 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.
- Discover does not issue an instant credit card number.
- 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. It’s now possible to complete this change online.
- 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.
- 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.
- You can check your credit card’s application status with Discover online.
- 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.
- We don’t know when the spending clock starts for minimum spend requirements.
- We’re not sure if it’s possible to get cash back expedited.
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:
- American Express
- Bank of America
- Barclaycard
- Capital One
- Chase
- Citi
- Comenity
- Discover
- Synchrony
- TD Bank
- US Bank
- Wells Fargo
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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.
#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?
There are 5% rotating category bonuses on the IT card.
Now that my brain is no longer dead – I see that I was really asking about the Discover It MILES card. When you don’t remember which cards you have anymore . . . maybe its time to slow down????
Discover it Miles earns 1.5% cash back, doubled for the first year. Most people think it’s worth keeping for first year because of that and then product changing to Discover it card for the 5% rotating categories.
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?
Yes.
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.
Thanks, jnrfalcon.
Official rules can be found here. https://www.discover.com/credit-cards/help-center/faqs/change-rewards-program.html
It’s currently not possible to PC to or from Miles. It seems they can only PC you to it/it chrome. Apparently not some legacy cards. No body will want to PC to Secured or Student card I suppose. So, yeah, PC is mostly allowed.
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.
Did they give you the option of providing a PIN to access the frozen report?
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.
Yeah, I know they allowed that but wasn’t just sure if it was because it’s a discontinued product. Really looking for Discover it Miles > Discover it data points.
I came across this:
“Currently, conversion into Discover it Miles card or conversion from Discover it Miles card is not available.”
http://www.discover.com/credit-cards/help-center/faqs/change-rewards-program.html
Thanks, updated this post and our post on doing a PC
Can I get a second Discover it card, or it has to be a different card (i.e discover miles)?
It can be the same (we once wrote a post on this).
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?
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.
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?
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?
Just got an email from Discover informing me that they’ve increased my Credit Line. Did the math and its a $1,300.00 increase. I haven’t requested an increase. What is the likelihood this will ping my credit?
John K, it wont badly affect your score as its not a hard pull . Will help in your Utilization ratio so will help in your score unless you keep more balance.
Discover gave me three Auto CLI in last 6 months. one being 1k, second 3k and other just yesterday being 300$. All soft pulls
[…] add this to our list of Best Current Credit Card Signup Bonuses. See also 15 Things Everybody Should Know About Discover Credit Cards before applying for a Discover […]
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…
Called twice and wouldn’t let me get the double first year bonus by product changing from Discover More to Discover IT.
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.
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