topic Re: Discover acting weird in Credit Cards

Discover acting weird

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 02:17:48 GMT

Discover is acting like a creepy person who won't stop calling/texting you who's really into you.

My fiancée for the past 2 months has been getting mailers from Discover to sign up, 1-2 a week. Literally the same offer every single time just a different envelope.

Since Discover has no sign up bonuses she really doesn't see and rush to sign up with them.

The offer she gets every time is 0% for 14 months 13-16% apr.

That's an okay offer but plenty of lenders offer 0% for 12 months AND a sign up bonus.

Has anyone else had this happen? Or has anyone received a sign up bonus (not a referral bonus)?

Re: Discover acting weird

ChargedUp — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 02:31:21 GMT

I was getting a different color mailer from Discover 2-3 times a week before I finally bit and applied. If they see something in your SP profile they like, you'll get tons of mail from them!

Re: Discover acting weird

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 02:36:34 GMT

Well her scores are pretty good (720-740 FICO) but since there's no sign up bonus there's no real incentive for her to apply right now.

I'm waiting to see what category 3 is for this year and if it is not restaurants then I'll refer her immediately, but if it is restaurants then I'll wait until mid July to refer her. The reason being is that my 1st year is up at the end of August so I earn double cash back, even on referrals through then!

Re: Discover acting weird

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 02:37:43 GMT

And most of our leisure spend is on restaurants (we're foodies)!

Re: Discover acting weird

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 02:38:51 GMT

Does Discover ever do sign up bonuses? I have not heard of any if so.

Discover wastes a ton of bread on postage. I don't know what it costs them to mail out one of those colorful envelopes, but it's got to be $1+ so for those that they're sending 2 a week to they're throwing away $100/year. Times how many people? Pretty crazy when you think about it.

Re: Discover acting weird

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 02:45:05 GMT

BrutalBodyShots - As far as Sign Up bonuses I haven't seen any.

But as far as postage it costs them from USPS 3-4 cents per each one to mail them. They get a contracted deal for bulk mail, and it's considered "second class mail" which is mail that if it gets lost it's not considered a big deal and so on.

- Source I worked at USPS for 3 years.

Re: Discover acting weird

Appleman — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 15:22:32 GMT

Doubling the Cash Back at one year on Discover it is like a sign on. Actually smart way to do it from the view of the CC company, the more you spend the more the CB the first year. My wife will be getting about $300 in May, her Disc it anniversary date.

Re: Discover acting weird

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 15:25:35 GMT

The highest spend category for us is Restaurants and for 3/4 of the year we get 2% because of the double CB. If a card just had restaurants at 5% year round we would definitely get it! But for now the closest we will get is Discover and Freedom.

Re: Discover acting weird

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 15:26:44 GMT

I'm STILL getting sign-up mailers from Discover three weeks or more after I was approved for a card. I think their software routine for telling when somebody has taken an offer so you can stop sending them mailers has broken.

Re: Discover acting weird

go_FICO_self — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 15:32:05 GMT

OP, wanting to attract a reliable, profitable customer is not "acting weird." it's their business model!

your gf probably hit the discover radar from multiple channels and hence the many mailers.

Re: Discover acting weird

grillandwinemaster — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 15:34:16 GMT

Agree with Appleman, the Double your Cash back IS the sign up bonus. The more you use it, the larger your "sign-up" bonus becomes.

So you can essentially create your own sign up bonus in an amount that YOU see fit.

Re: Discover acting weird

AverageJoesCredit — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 15:34:29 GMT

The main benefit of getting a Discover is its 1st year cash back match up and its potential to grow for some. I wouldng wait for s specific time if you feel you would enjoy the double cash back in year one and the possibility of having a potentially good growing card off sp id go for it. Just my 2 british pounds

Re: Discover acting weird

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 15:59:08 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

But as far as postage it costs them from USPS 3-4 cents per each one to mail them. They get a contracted deal for bulk mail, and it's considered "second class mail" which is mail that if it gets lost it's not considered a big deal and so on.

- Source I worked at USPS for 3 years.

Good to know, thanks for that info!

Re: Discover acting weird

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 16:01:59 GMT

Those that have had their Discover card for more than 1 year (past the double CB promo) how much less do you find yourself using the card in Year 2? Have you moved to just using it for the 5% categories like the Chase Freedom? I'm about 2 months away from hitting my 1 year mark with Discover and I venture to guess that my use of the card will drop significantly. For things like general spend where I could use a 2% CB card like my Blispay, I tend to reach for Discover since it's essentially the same thing right now even though I'm waiting a bit for that other 1%... once the promo period is up though, there's not much incentive that I see to use the card outside of the 5% rotating categories.

Re: Discover acting weird

austinguy907 — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 19:06:29 GMT

The bonus is 2X cashback on your spend for the first 12 cycles.

Effectively you're earning 2%-10% or more depending on your spend pattern. You can earn more through Disco Deals where the average offer is 5% and some go as high as 10-15% for some travel options. So, 10-30% for something you would buy anyway out ranks most cards for the first year at least.

Disco does this method of "BONUS" to deter the churners that collect their 100-500 bonus and then dump the card for the next shiny object floating in the air.

As to after the first year..... I keep mine active with the monthly bills and 5% catagory spend to keep pushing the CL upwards. After my first year was up I still managed to bump them up another $22K+ in the last 6 months or so.

You'll find benefits when you want them. You'll get your bonus cash back instantly after 12 months is up. Disco isn't everyone else but, they make up for it in the end.

Re: Discover acting weird

rockup55 — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 19:37:58 GMT

I think Discover is Outstanding!! I first had the IT card and received in excess of $2000 in cashback after the 12 month cycle. That included a few sign up referrals and taking advantage of the Apple Pay bonus. By the end of the 12 month cycle, I had obtained a nice credit limit of $20.000. After the 12 month cycle was up, I started using the IT card just for the 5% quarterly categories and I applied for the IT Miles card to take advantage of another 12 month double cashback cycle. My IT Miles card cycle will end at the end of May this year and based on present miles credit, my double cashback equivalent will again exceed $2000. My credit limit on the miles card is $15,000. After the 12 cycles are up for the miles card, I will use it minimally just enough to keep it active and maintain my credit limit. I will then have my wife apply for an IT miles card to achieve another double cash back cycle for the family and then move to minimal usage on that card after the 12 cycles. Discover customer service is Outstanding and so is many of the other benefits attached to the card like price protection which I have used often. After we go through a 12 month cycle with my wife miles card, the family will have achieved cashback benefits in excess of $6000 over three years just for spending money on stuff that we would be spending anyway even if we did not have credit cards. I could not be happier with Discover.

Re: Discover acting weird

Anonymous — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 19:48:18 GMT

Funny. I used to average at least one a week, and sometimes I would get two mailers a week from them. Went on for quite a while but has slowed down considerably now. Not sure why because my profile and scores have not changed but I was never going to bite on that one anyway.

Re: Discover acting weird

joltdude — Sat, 15 Apr 2017 03:39:01 GMT

Awhile back i once saw a 75$ bonus for discover but they were not doing the double rewards the first year thing then ..... was if you signed up for discover via Amazon...

But your referral bonus is doubled at the end of the first year too btw.. so thats a 100$ for the referral....

-J