topic Re: Discover mailer, an offer or junk mail? in Credit Card Applications

Discover mailer, an offer or junk mail?

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 20:30:49 GMT

A rather nice mailer from Discover made its way to my mailbox today, but it's about as clear as the website "pre-qualify" function. Thishas an invitation number, a 0% interest offer and then a very small range APR afterwards (3% difference between the two numbers). I think the range means it's just a junk mailer, but I've never seen one with a three digit difference. Do their mailers say prequalified on them?

(As a side note, if this is just a random mailer the quality is superb. Thick textured paper in an off-white. If I wasn't active on this board, I'd be impressed by Discover.)

Re: Discover mailer, an offer or junk mail?

OmarGB9 — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 20:38:21 GMT

I think the pre approval offers from Disco with a small APR range are much more reliable than the website prequals.

Re: Discover mailer, an offer or junk mail?

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 20:41:24 GMT

Small ranges tend to be a better sign you'll be approved, but I always take Discover prequals with a pinch of salt.

Re: Discover mailer, an offer or junk mail?

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 20:43:43 GMT

The website gave me the same tiny range on the APR. I put in my husband's to see if there would be a difference, and his had a 12 digit range.

Discover was my one holdout, but I've got a crazy amount of inquiries. One paid collection that was paid recently, originated 3 years ago. Same for a paid tax lien, paid three years ago. No lates, 7% utilization, but my scores are meh at best.

Is it even worth trying? (They've said no to me before, in January, but my scores were crap and I had some report cleaning to do.)

Re: Discover mailer, an offer or junk mail?

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 20:46:33 GMT

I think you have a decent shot if online is showing the same small range.

I was approved with several paid collections showing, so it's possible. I think your scores are high enough.

Re: Discover mailer, an offer or junk mail?

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 20:47:28 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Small ranges tend to be a better sign you'll be approved, but I always take Discover prequals with a pinch of salt.

You said it! There's nothing on there that says pre-qualified. It just says "To help you decide..." It's for the It Card, so nothing fancy. But the interest rate after the promo is far better than any of my other cards. I'm still not sure I want to waste the inquiry. Who do they usually pull? One or all three?

Re: Discover mailer, an offer or junk mail?

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 20:48:25 GMT

They usually pull just one.

Re: Discover mailer, an offer or junk mail?

OmarGB9 — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 20:48:32 GMT

I got denied due to "insufficient credit history" (read: short AAoA and too many new accounts) and 24% util. I think my util did me in along with the new accounts.

Re: Discover mailer, an offer or junk mail?

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 20:53:10 GMT

Yeah, my AAoA is shot. Utilization is good, but AAoA is sitting at 1.5 years as of today.

Re: Discover mailer, an offer or junk mail?

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 20:54:32 GMT

My AAoA was about 6 months when I was approved.

Re: Discover mailer, an offer or junk mail?

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 20:59:58 GMT

Hahahaha! Twist my arm why don't you?!?

I opened two new accounts (one cc, one retail) in June. And 4 from January to April. They seem pretty finicky about new stuff, too.

Re: Discover mailer, an offer or junk mail?

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 21:07:19 GMT

Haha. You got me!

But seriously... if you're not comfortable with biting the bullet yet, leave it. Time in the garden certainly never hurt anyone.

Re: Discover mailer, an offer or junk mail?

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 21:11:26 GMT

True. It helps that it's just one INQ, rather than a triple hitter. Citi and Cap One were both triples.

Re: Discover mailer, an offer or junk mail?

DaveInAZ — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 21:37:45 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
True. It helps that it's just one INQ, rather than a triple hitter. Citi and Cap One were both triples.

I app'd Discover last Oct, turned flat, rejection letter just mentioned 2010 BK7, I was short of 4 years post discharge. I started getting those invite letter w/code in June, touting 1st year 0% APR and 12.99-15.99 after that, and 1st year double cash back. At first I though 'naw, not gonna waste a HP to get rejected by them again. But they came every week, and when I got the 3rd invite I thought "well, maybe they really do want me now'" and app'd. Approved for $4k SL and the 12.99% APR after 1st year of 0%. The new account is reporting on TU & EQ via Credit Karma, but I still don't see the INQ from the approval. If they use EX it might be there, I use credit.com to monitor EX and it's pretty crappy with no where near the level of detail as CK.

Re: Discover mailer, an offer or junk mail?

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 21:41:33 GMT

Did you app yet?

Re: Discover mailer, an offer or junk mail?

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 21:48:23 GMT

That's exactly the offer I got in the mail!

Hmmm.... might have to think about this one. Discover has been the one that got away in the credit repertoire. I'd love to get one, but not at a toy limit.

Re: Discover mailer, an offer or junk mail?

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 21:51:25 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Did you app yet?

Nope, not yet. Still thinking about it in betwen power point presentations. A girl's gotta work.

Re: Discover mailer, an offer or junk mail?

DaveInAZ — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 21:56:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
That's exactly the offer I got in the mail!

Hmmm.... might have to think about this one. Discover has been the one that got away in the credit repertoire. I'd love to get one, but not at a toy limit.

Oh, also the expiration date on my code was 12/31/15, what's yours? You might wait a week or two to see if you get another repeated invite - nothing like repeated invitations to boost the confidence in taking the HP plunge.

Re: Discover mailer, an offer or junk mail?

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 22:01:23 GMT

Yep, same date. This would my first ever offer from Discover, they usually send junk mail to my husband.

Hmmm. What was your score when you app'd?

Re: Discover mailer, an offer or junk mail?

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 22:06:04 GMT

Honestly it's junk. It's attractive junk, but junk nonetheless. It is not even specially addressed to you. And there is just an APR range listed.

I'd wait.