Easy Discover Card?

[AF_23]

IIRC i got in with a decent limit in the mid 600's last year. Really like the Discover More card so far

[Revelate]

---

@espnjunkie wrote:

<snip>

Charge cards seem like a great tool for teaching responsible spending, I wonder why more companies do not offer them? It helps keep people on a budget and within their means by forcing pif each month. Unless taking advantage of promo APR's or the occaisonal splurge, constantly carrying a large balance is a recipe for disaster if anything happens (sickness, job loss, unforseen hardship, etc).

---

They would have to be generating acceptable revenue from transaction fees for it to be worthwhile to do so. 

Amex or Discover are really the only two that can; Visa and Mastercard arguably could (by buying a bank and staffing a large number of additional folks to handle CS and other functions), but they know it's not their core business model and it would undoubtedly annoy some of their partners... for possibly little benefit and a non-trivial additional cost.

While I assume there's some kickback of the Visa/MC transaction fee to the Visa/MC card issuers, it's undoubtedly not significant enough to lose the APR and AF benefits when there are millions of consumers wanting credit cards.  The pre-paid spending cards get their extra money from the deposits they hold in their own accounts... anyone else offering a non-secured charge card wouldn't receive that benefit.  

End of the day, it's just not likely to be profitable; Amex has just been doing it for an awfully long time and has a large, established network to support it and a rewards program which is first-rate; however, even they opted to start offering revolvers as well.  If they didn't think they could make more money by doing so, they simply wouldn't have done that.

[Anonymous]

---

@ArisGreek wrote:

Actually, there is a different criteria for AMEX charge cards.  You cannot PC from Zync to the other 4 charge cards.  I've tried and they have told me countless times that Zync isn't allowed for a product change due to it being a different tier of charge card. If you had an AMEX Green or any other charge card you could go up and down between them but once you go say from Platinum to Zync you cannot change back even if you were originally approved for Platinum.  I bit the bullet and applied for it yesterday and got approved for Platinum. I checked today and it was soft because it used info from my JB AMEX which was great, but YMMV. Here are some scenarios:

App for Zync, get approved...13 months later you want to PC to Green, Gold, Gold PR, or Platinum -- No dice

App for Green Gold, Gold PR, Platinum, get approved...13 months later you want to PC to Zync, Green Gold, Gold PR, or Platinum --  YES

If PC to Zync from after you've had one of the other 4 -- NO DICE.

So think carefully what you want

---

I have had the Green charge card since 2004 but won't be using it much the next 6 months since I have 2 new revolvers from Amex to use. I can't decide if I should downgrade to the Zync or just completely close it. Any insight on what I should do? (sorry to OP for hijacking your thread)

[scottwagnon]

---

@Tommy5746 wrote:

Just out of curiosity.... Which discover card do you guys think is the easiest to obtain? Zync would obviously be the easiest for Amex.. So which is the "easiest" for Discover?

---

recalling information i received from a discover rep a long time ago, i remember learning that the motiva is the easiest card to get, (unless you are a full time university student), then it is easier to get a student discover.

No amex card is worth an annual fee except starwood and blue cash preferred. i don't care how rich you are, amex charge card is not worth accepting if you have to pay for it every year. my blue cash everyday does just fine with no AF. and 7500 for an centurion credit card, no way. i say, give it to me for no AF and we will talk.

ok... for exception i would say the jpm palladium is worth one year af of 600 dollars as the palladium value of the card itself is worth more than that.

[Tommy5746]

Looks like i'll be applying for a Discover More card in the very near future!!

[espnjunkie]

While AMEX fees are high no doubt, the cards do carry alot of benefits that are less obvious. The return protection is really nice as AMEX guarantees your ability to be refunded for purchases you want to return regardless of the stores policy. Plus charge cards are geared toward people who spend heavily on the cards each month and rarely, if ever, carry a balance. Charge cards often will allow for a much higher spending limit than a revolver as well since it has to be paid in full each month. Also many businesses use AMEX charge cards. It all depends on what your spending habits are like and what rewards you want to redeem. There is no perfect card for everyone. Also with regards to Centurion annual fees, if a person spends enough to qualify and wants the Centurion card something tells me that he/she won't miss the 5,000.00 initiation fee or the 2,500.00 annual fee...