Discover unOfficial Data Points

[Anonymous]

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@Revelate wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Schwartzinator wrote:

@I get no love from Disco. My card is about to close on 9 months and I've recieved only a single $500 CLI in that time. Applied with a 766 and was approved for $1500 @ 11.24%. AmEx and USBank on the other hand have shown me quite a bit of love. 

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Sorry to hear, Schwartzinator. Discover makes no sense when someone with a 766 FICO gets a low DIscover APR and a $1,500 SL to go with it. They can be weird sometimes.

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With Discover's CLI policy does it matter what the initial limit is?  (Sort of like Amex in that regard)

@humuhumunukunukuapua'a wrote:

Yes, I think the SL does matter, given that CLI's are not universally being awarded with Discover. I've seen a number of people with thick profiles and good FICO scores get a $1,500 CLI after 12-14 months of card ownership and then nothing for another 18 months. CLi's with Discover are unfortunately not guaranteed.

I think a $1,500 limit is kind of an insult to someone with a 766 FICO and an established profile, especially if their other limits are pretty high. A $1,500 low limit also doesn't really match the good 11% APR that was given to Schwartz, so an inconsistency exists in that area as well. Just my thought, though.

[Revelate]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I think a $1,500 limit is kind of an insult to someone with a 766 FICO and an established profile, especially if their other limits are pretty high. A $1,500 low limit also doesn't really match the good 11% APR that was given to Schwartz, so an inconsistency exists in that area as well. Just my thought, though.

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I'd simply suggest not looking at it that way.  Every card should have a purpose, and on this forum which has devolved into rewards maximization the rationale to pick up a Discover should be clear: max out the 5% in a given quarter and go elsewhere for the rest of your spend.  Double points in the first year not withstanding though 2% isn't hard to reach.

Limits aren't personal, it's just business... and honestly even religiously maxxing out my Freedom rewards I've never needed higher than a 1K limit over the past 4 years I've had the card, even if Chase inexplicably gave me a pair of auto-CLI's to 4K.  

Concentrate limits where they're needed, like a default spender, or a balance carrying card, or if you're into travel your main travel card.  For things like rotating rewards I'd really suggest keeping your exposure limited there but that's my own thinking knowing I'm going to run up against limit boundaries someday in the future as the market isn't going to stay like it currently is over the next 40 years.

In general it's just not good to base credit decisions off emotions, so characterizing anything a lender does as an insult is likely not in anyone's best interests.

[Anonymous]

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@Revelate wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I think a $1,500 limit is kind of an insult to someone with a 766 FICO and an established profile, especially if their other limits are pretty high. A $1,500 low limit also doesn't really match the good 11% APR that was given to Schwartz, so an inconsistency exists in that area as well. Just my thought, though.

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I'd simply suggest not looking at it that way.  Every card should have a purpose, and on this forum which has devolved into rewards maximization the rationale to pick up a Discover should be clear: max out the 5% in a given quarter and go elsewhere for the rest of your spend.  Double points in the first year not withstanding though 2% isn't hard to reach.

Limits aren't personal, it's just business... and honestly even religiously maxxing out my Freedom rewards I've never needed higher than a 1K limit over the past 4 years I've had the card, even if Chase inexplicably gave me a pair of auto-CLI's to 4K.  

Concentrate limits where they're needed, like a default spender, or a balance carrying card, or if you're into travel your main travel card.  For things like rotating rewards I'd really suggest keeping your exposure limited there but that's my own thinking knowing I'm going to run up against limit boundaries someday in the future as the market isn't going to stay like it currently is over the next 40 years.

In general it's just not good to base credit decisions off emotions, so characterizing anything a lender does as an insult is likely not in anyone's best interests.

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Thanks Revelate. It's not based on emotions. I simply think that Schwartz or CC (who got a low limit Discover card and he has a great profile) are probably not thrilled with Discover when they have other cards with 20k limits and get rewarded with a $1,500 one.

I don't personally plan to seek out cards that would give me a $1,500 limit either, so I can see where they are coming from when they are unhappy with a limit that does not reflect a solid credit score and profile.

It also makes balance transfers almost impossible and impractical, and balance transfer usage is one reason why a number of people do get this card.

Someone on the board a few months ago who was just eleven months out of BK mentioned getting a 10k limit on Discover, so there really is something awry in their decision making when Schwartz is getting $1,500 with a 766 FICO.

It's more of a practical reason why people don't want the low limit cards (especially for balance transfers), not really an emotional one at all.

And we do have those members on the board who would like to use the 5% categories and other spending (especially the double cash back for those in their first year) without having to constantly pay their card down to keep utilization in check.

[austinguy907]

It's time to squash this.  When I opened mine Disco gave me $4500 because they're conservative even though my average limit was 17K and a high limit of 29K.  They compensate after opening with the slew of SP CLI's though if you show some restraint and show activity every month.  Yes, things vary by profile and yes some get some and others get none.  It all depends on how you manage things and if you're willing to take a HP for a CLI if you don't want to wait it out.  There's tons of other lenders out there that don't even offer a SP CLI.  

[Anonymous]

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@austinguy907 wrote:

It's time to squash this.  When I opened mine Disco gave me $4500 because they're conservative even though my average limit was 17K and a high limit of 29K.  They compensate after opening with the slew of SP CLI's though if you show some restraint and show activity every month.  Yes, things vary by profile and yes some get some and others get none.  It all depends on how you manage things and if you're willing to take a HP for a CLI if you don't want to wait it out.  There's tons of other lenders out there that don't even offer a SP CLI.  

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Discover does it for some people, austin, not all. There are quite a few people on the board who have not seen a Discover CLI in some time, despite trying many different things: medium usage, no usage, high usage, regular monthly usage, paying in full, letting a small balance report, and keeping low utilization and a solid profile with no negatives. It's not a given by any means.

Of all the lenders, DIscover has been fairly difficult to predict, unfortunately.

And quite a few people have reported a $500 CLI after agreeing to take a HP from Discover, so I'm not sure it's worth the risk. It may be for some people.

[austinguy907]

I'm not disputing they're not for everyone.  There's tons of people that spend years trying to get in on multiple attempts.  Yes, the CLI's are all over the map depending on their profile.  All of this has been discussed before.  

[Anonymous]

Discover CLI's in a number of cases do not occur regardless of having a solid profile, as a number of people have reported here. I just don't want to see people jumping up and down like trained seals hoping Discover will give them something regularly if they just follow x, y, z that you are saying, that's all.

[UncleB]

I personally find great value in many aspects of the forum, and one of my favorite parts is the sharing of data points.

That said, I think it's also important to stress that these things are always 'YMMV', and just because something works (or doesn't work) for one doesn't mean somebody else will have the same results.

While many of our data points are similar for most lenders, Discover seems to be "all over the place", even for people with seemingly similar profiles.  I'm not sure if it's worth trying to 'read the tea leaves' to predict their behavior, but I do find value in sharing and compiling our information here as long as we keep our expectations appropriate.

Just my 2¢. 

[Anonymous]

+1 UncleB !

[Anonymous]

Is discover CLI always a soft TU pull or will they use others? They used EX on my original app. My TU is much higher so I thought of asking.