New Credit Card worth the Inquiry hit? (Discover It)

[TheCity]

Hi all,

First post, have been lurking so far and have gotten some really good advice from the forums.

I'm in the process of trying to rebuild my credit after a disastrous '17 where I went 7 months unemployed. I'm gainfully employed now and still trying to get things back in order.

Right now, I only have 1 single active credit card, a Capital One platinum with a balance of only $500.
I'm looking into applying for a Discover It Secured now and putting down the maximum deposit.

The issue however, is that I currently have 6 inquiries reporting to my credit. I do have 2 of them scheduled to stop reporting this June. Is opening up this new card worth the hit of the additional inquiry?

Also, if anyone has any feedback on the Discover It card, let me know.

[Anonymous]

I love the Discover card. Many people will tell you the same. It's a GREAT starter card. I did take a hit with score when the hard inquiry was pulled but only by about 8 points. The next month it went back to normal. But I only had 2 inquiries at that time.

[Anonymous]

Discover is a great card to have, and the impact of having another credit line positively reporting will outweigh the negatives of another inquiry.  I don't have any experience with their secured product, but I highly reccommend Discover in general.  Their customer service is second to none.

[Anonymous]

FlagDownRR You are so right. I had a Discover when I was in my early 20s. So it's been a while. Got one again this year. I was so taken back at how professional and kind the customer service rep was. Any time I've called, they have always been A++++++

[Anonymous]

If you use the prequal, and get a prequaled offer, its been trending lately they havent done a HP opening the account.

It happened to me and several others over the last 3 months.

But we believe it MUST be a preapproved offer and not a cold app.

So make sure you use the prequal tool first. 

This is not a guarantee, just some datapoints.

[TheCity]

Thanks for the replies!
That's very useful about the hard pull btw. I've already done a prequal. Does it have to be at that very next screen you think? Or can I come back to it?

[Anonymous]

When I apped, I didn’t get a HP. Some people on the boards are saying if you sign up for discover’s credit monitoring service (its free and updates 1x a month), you won’t get a HP.

I had the service, was preapproved, apped and didn’t get the HP. Wouldn’t hurt to sign up for it. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Not sure this HP vs SP approval follows any pattern. Here is my experience. Last month DW and I both applied for our separate secured IT cards a few days apart. Both of us had prequal offers on their website. While she got HP on EX and EQ, mine was a SP. Neither of us was enrolled for their free credit monitoring service at that point.

[Anonymous]

Yea, I don't know how it's decided. I have a HP from Discover and I am enrolled with the credit monitoring. 🤷