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. It’s now possible to complete this change online.
  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 reports balances from business credit cards to the personal credit bureaus. Not many people have Discover business cards, though.
  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:
    William Charles
  • On February 8, 2016, 09:30

View Comments (55)

  • Fairly unique feature of Discover to add to the list - unlike other credit cards, cash-over-purchase at a point-of-sale is coded as a special kind of cash-advance with no cash advance fee, and like purchases, incur no interest charges if the statement balance is paid in full by the due date. (Interest is charged on the same schedule as for purchases.)

    https://www.discover.com/credit-cards/member-benefits/cash-over-purchases.html

    This feature does not earn points. Limit of $120 per 24 hours.

  • Got a $3000 credit limit with a score in the mid-600s. 18 months no interest. Transferred a $3000 balance and have been paying off proratably. Six months later, they do an arbitrary review of my credit. Due to inquires and extra accounts opened since then, they lowered my limit to $2300.

  • Relocating credit limit can only be done if you're approved for a credit line increase and only for the card the CL increased is approved,
    To explain, I wanted to relocate part of my CL from my IT card to the IT Miles card i called them up and the rep requested a CL increase on my IT card and i was approved but they couldn't relocate to the IT Miles card because i had to be approved for the IT Miles card so i was screwed

  • Item 15 says Discover says they *don't* report business balances to personal bureaus, but the linked page indicates that they do. Anyone know for sure which it is?

  • If I already have one discover card, am I eligible to receive a sign-up bonus on a second card? The terms state that bonus is for new cardholders...does that mean the same card or all cards (like Amex)?

  • I was able to make a product change from a Discover IT Miles to a Discover IT card over the phone today.

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