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I've had a Discover IT card for 3 years. There have continually been balance transfer offers, either fee-free, or interest-free.
Today, for the first time in 3 years, I got this message:
"Unfortunately, there are no offers available on your account at this time."
Does anybody know what this is about?
Here is my guess: historically I used the balance transfers plenty, but never carried a balance, usually paying the balance off even before the statement cuts; I never get good CLI's from Discover, so I have always been curious as to how I could change their view of me; I read in this forum that Discover's business model is to target revolvers rather than transactors, so this month I deliberately carried a 25% balance; their algorithm, instead of seeing that as a nice thing, interpreted it as a sign of distress. That's my guess, but I'm curious if anyone has any better insight into it.
If this persists, I will finally follow through on my dream of relegating the Discover card to the sock drawer, since the balance transfer offers were the only feature I liked about the card. I'm not particularly fond of the idea of taking up space in my wallet with a card that is not accepted everywhere, and I simply cannot spare any of my few remaining brain cells for the purpose of keeping track of Discover's bonus categories, most of which are either useless, or almost useless, to me. E.g. sometimes their category is for department stores or wholesale stores. I don't go to either of those. This quarter their category is gas. My regular cards get me 2% cash back on everything, and some get me 3% cash back on gas. And I probably spend $50 a month on gas. So for $1.50 a month I can skip worrying about what's hot at Discover this quarter
Update 5/17/18: Well I'll be, Discover gave me back my balance transfer offer Now I have a choice again.
Actually, you are behind in your quarters. This quarter Discover has 5% on Grocery Stores. Great for families, so-so for single folks.
You'll likely have to carry a balance for several months to get them to adjust their profile on you. Of course, other people never carry a balance and get decent CLI's when they ask. Perhaps they just swipe the card more and Discover still knows they're making money off the person in fees, if not interest.
Its also possible that next statement you'll have BT offers again.
NFCU MR: $25K | Venture: $21K | Amex ED: $18K | NFCU CR: $18K | Amex BCE: $15K | IT #1: $17.5K | PNC Core: $15K | PPMC: $12K | Wells Fargo: $11K | Savor: 12K | Cap1 QS: $8.5K | Barclays Rewards: $7.75K | IT #2: $7.3K | MLife: $9.5K | Sportsman's Guide: $8.7K | PenFed PR: $5.5K | Elan Plat: $2.3K | TRV: $3.6K | BotW: $3K
Current FICO 8 Scores: EQ: 831| TU: 818 | EX: 809
That's really interesting. I haven't logged into either of our Disco accounts, but as you've said their BT offers were a stable entity. I just paid mine off, it will be interesting to see if one is there. DH is carrying one for part of his CL, it will be interesting to see if one is there too.
Thanks for posting. I have some balances on 0% that I've been horrible about paying down and have seen the writing on the wall that 0% days may be limited, so I did a PL for a hefty chunk of it. Not particularly painful when I realized I was paying (usually) 3% a year already. If the Disco BT train goes away, I'll be looking to do something with the remaining bit sooner than later!
@Dalmus wrote:Actually, you are behind in your quarters. This quarter Discover has 5% on Grocery Stores. Great for families, so-so for single folks.
You'll likely have to carry a balance for several months to get them to adjust their profile on you. Of course, other people never carry a balance and get decent CLI's when they ask. Perhaps they just swipe the card more and Discover still knows they're making money off the person in fees, if not interest.
Its also possible that next statement you'll have BT offers again.
See that, I can't even keep track of it when it's a category I do use
@Anonymous wrote:
Is it just me or has discover raised the interest rate for the no fee BT offer? For the last year or so it has constantly been 4.99% apr for 18 month but now the apr is 5.99%.
It’s not a big change but just curious.
They are definitely switching things up.
DH does not have the 18 month offer, only 12/0/3
I still have the 'usual' 18/4.99/0 and 12/0/3
Our statements cut in a few days. I didn't think to see when it says the offers are good thru.
ETA: His is thru tomorrow. Mine is thru 5/29/18.
@Anonymous wrote:
Is it just me or has discover raised the interest rate for the no fee BT offer? For the last year or so it has constantly been 4.99% apr for 18 month but now the apr is 5.99%.
It’s not a big change but just curious.
It's always been 4.99% for me -- until now when it's not there at all
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Is it just me or has discover raised the interest rate for the no fee BT offer? For the last year or so it has constantly been 4.99% apr for 18 month but now the apr is 5.99%.
It’s not a big change but just curious.They are definitely switching things up.
DH does not have the 18 month offer, only 12/0/3
I still have the 'usual' 18/4.99/0 and 12/0/3
Our statements cut in a few days. I didn't think to see when it says the offers are good thru.
ETA: His is thru tomorrow. Mine is thru 5/29/18.
Fascinating.
"historically I used the balance transfers plenty, but never carried a balance, usually paying the balance off even before the statement cuts"
- I think that's a big part of the problem, you're costing them money instead of making them money. It cost them money to process & transfer your BT request, plus their interest cost for the time you have the money. When you pay it back so quickly they don't even recoup their expense. And it sounds like you don't give them many transactions swipe fees. I'm pretty frugal and don't waste money, but my attitude is that you need to at least toss some crumbs to your lenders every now & then to keep them happy. I did a $4500 BT in January, taking the 4.99% APR w/no BT fee as I knew I'd pay it back quickly. I paid it back in March, paying a whole $8.xx in interest. But then in February I used Discover deals to buy a $1100 TV, earning $55 in rewards, so I came out a bit ahead. But I figure the merchants pay most if not all of the Discover Deals rewards. And while I have 2% rewards on everything cards & 3% grocery & gas cards, every now & them I toss Discover a 1% transaction to make some swipe fees, but even then it's to my advantage as it's Walmart or a grocery store to get some cash back and avoid having to use an ATM.