What happens when Discover Graduates?

[Anonymous]

So my 6th statement cuts next week and I'm hoping that on my 7th as some others have that I will be getting my card unsecured.

But I just wanted to ask from someone who has graduated this card what exactly happens?

What rewards does it now get compared to previously? Are there any other differences in the card?
Did you get an auto-CLI upon graduation?

[creditguy]

When your card graduates, the only thing that changes is how it's reported to CRA's, it will no longer say secured, oh and you get your deposit back, which is pretty quick. The card you have now is the card you have after graduation. There also is no guarantee of a CLI upon graduation, it's a ymmv thing and depends on what criteria Discover uses to determine an auto CLI. If you have the standard chrome it rewards structure, you can always contact Discover through chat to have it upgraded to the rotating catergoroes it.

[Anonymous]

Have you actually had it changed to the rotating categories or just heard that it's possible? That's mainly what I want upon graduation is to switch so I can get more rewards right now I'm stuck with 1-2% cashback which isn't very beneficial.

[ladybug2016]

You can contact them now and ask for the 5% rewards. The card doesn't have to be unsecured for this. I did it when I'd only had my secured card for 2-3 months.

[Anonymous]

Wow I missed all those 5% categories last year

[Anonymous]

I'll caution you not to get your hopes up too much ... 

I've had my Disc secured card for 10 months, and despite months of responsible use, on time payments and credit improvement, I can't get it to graduate. In the last two weeks I've added $2800 in available credit on new cards, but Discover won't graduate me. 

[Anonymous]

Jjking54 - What are you FICO scores? And did you have a Bankruptcy?

I'm very confident I can get it graduated I could have likely gotten an unsecured card to start with but at the time I felt like since there was no AF and it graduated I'd do the safe thing and just go with the Secured.

[Anonymous]

Scores run from TU - 611 to EX - 644. EQ is somewhere in between. Never bankruptcy.

My scores have taken a bit of a hit because in order to qualify for a mortgage I had to pay off a car loan, which dropped my scores because my mix then lacked an installment loan. It'll bounce back when my mortgage hits my reports. In addition, there were at least three Hard Pulls for that mortgage (I switched lenders after my first Hard Pull), and then yesterday I closed out an app spree where I ended up with four new cards and an added $2,800 in available credit ... so once those amounts hit my reports it'll bounce back even further, though my average age of accounts will suffer a bit with all the new lines. 

I can't confirm this, but I believe that your TransUnion score is the key as to whether or not Discover unsecures a secured card. There's a "data points" thread in the Credit Card forum about people who have graduated, what their scores were, how long they had the Disc account, etc. It seems the length of time doesn't matter as much as your scores, and of those I'm reasonably certain that the TU score is often the deciding factor. And with my TU lagging behind my other scores, Discover isln't budging for me. I got excited when the first wave of secured graduates went through, but as the months have dragged on, I'm neither looking forward to it or expecting it any time soon. 

And that's fine ... I'll just sock drawer it until/if it does. 

[Anonymous]

Your scores are probably the key factor.

My scores:
EX: 654
TU: 664
EQ: 670

And by my 7 month statement I hope to have all at 670 or higher. Recently since I was able to PC it to the 5% thanks to ladybug's advice I will use it a lot more.

Being at 670+ is why I'm confident if I was under 650 I would not be so confident. The reason I say 670 is because on the FICO scoring that Discover provides there's a scale below it and 670 is considered "good" credit.