New Discover secured graduation policy

[MyLoFICO]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@MyLoFICO wrote:

---

@joltdude wrote:

@MyLoFICO

Know this sounds stupid but are any of your reports frozen....... AND/OR have you ever opted-out of marketing offers?

Might want to go check if you have opted out of marketing offers since it will affect preapprovals...

-J

---

Not stupid at all. I have had that very thought. All reports are unfrozen and not opt'd out. I still get Credit One offers. I have not app'd them but I think their $500 SL would compliment my $96K nicely. 

---

I keep watching the util in your siggy go down. Keep at it! 

---

Its actually at 28k now and I dropped another 4k on it last week. I should be down to 24 but I am waiting until my CCT score refresh to update. 

[Anonymous]

Hi Grasshopper and others,

I just had to come back to the forum today because I am shocked... I graduated yesterday! As I mentioned a month ago, I have been paying down my $2,000 balance by $180-200 a month. I still owe $1,300 on the card, but sure enough, a couple days after my new statement, I got the email! To be fair, I've had this card for at least two years, but it's always been maxed out. I can see why these payments would seem like good management comparatively.

If you're interested, my FICO8 score is 628, and I have 10 open lines of credit, four of which have zero balance (been paying them down for the last year). I've brought my credit utilization down from near 100% to about 68%.

Good luck everybody!

[Anonymous]

Grats on getting those balances down and your graduation!

[Anonymous]

If you dont mind me asking, what was your FICO Score when they graduated your card?

[Anonymous]

Well, I personally have been very disappointed with discover. I got a secured card with a $500 cl. I used the card sparingly to keep utilization low. That didn't work. The 7 month review came and went. I called and spoke with a. Representative about what they look at to unsecure a card. She told me the look at overall credit history, fico scores, utilization etc. well here are my stats
Fico- 795
Utilization 1-3%
On time payments all the time.
No negative things on any of the three bureaus reports.
The representative told me to spend more money in increase my utilization. Which make no sense. But I tried it. Ummmm nope.
The reps are very pleasant on the phone. But they really don't look at the whole credit pic. Just a script that they read from. Wish I was a happy discover customer. 😳

[MyLoFICO]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
Well, I personally have been very disappointed with discover. I got a secured card with a $500 cl. I used the card sparingly to keep utilization low. That didn't work. The 7 month review came and went. I called and spoke with a. Representative about what they look at to unsecure a card. She told me the look at overall credit history, fico scores, utilization etc. well here are my stats
Fico- 795
Utilization 1-3%
On time payments all the time.
No negative things on any of the three bureaus reports.
The representative told me to spend more money in increase my utilization. Which make no sense. But I tried it. Ummmm nope.
The reps are very pleasant on the phone. But they really don't look at the whole credit pic. Just a script that they read from. Wish I was a happy discover customer. 😳

---

Same thing happened to me. I finally ended up closing it. The poor rep tried like heck to change the outcome but in the end I closed it. the next day I hit my "90 days since graduation" and got a $400 auto CLI on a closed account. Go figure. Don't wait on discover, move on.

[BurgeoningHope]

Interesting. My husband's scores are in the low-mid 600s and he graduated in Month 7. He tends to run up a lot of expenses, sometimes in excess of 70% of his CL. We always PIF, every month, and typically make a couple of payments a month so that it's at or near zero when it reports. He's never carried a balance to the next month.

Maybe what Discover means about utilization is simply to use it more, and PIF??

[Anonymous]

---

@BurgeoningHope wrote:

Interesting. My husband's scores are in the low-mid 600s and he graduated in Month 7. He tends to run up a lot of expenses, sometimes in excess of 70% of his CL. We always PIF, every month, and typically make a couple of payments a month so that it's at or near zero when it reports. He's never carried a balance to the next month.

Maybe what Discover means about utilization is simply to use it more, and PIF??

---

Discover is somewhat unusual for their CLI's. High balances seem to scare them sometimes. If you're going for a CLI, follow the "Autopay my Netflix and PIF" strategy.

[Anonymous]

Carrieo2310 I am in total agreement with you. I loved everything about Discover. But their graduation policy when it came to me made no sense at all. No lates, low utilzation with multiple payments made on the card each month for months (December 2016 - March 2017) put $4k per month on a $300 card). Still no graduation. While getting approved for Us bank cash+, capital one and Amex. So when the 12 month came around and my fico scores at an all time high, they still said no. I said enough is enough and requested to close my card. Which was a testament in patience because i had to call in three times to get it done. Still waiting for my deposit to ne refunded to me. Discover... I discovered something indeed, that discover is not for me!

[Jimp2323]

Question...has anyone increased their deposit about month 6 or so in order to try for a larger SL when the card graduates?