Discover Spend Offer and APR Reduction

[chaos51]

I don't always have nice things to say about Discover, but I was pretty pleased with my conversation today. I called in to ask about an APR reduction. I don't carry balances, but I figured why not ask every 6 months like they allow. They took my APR down 2% to 17.74%, but the rep also asked if I would be interested in a spending bonus. I almost said "no" because the last time they offered me one, it wasn't worth it compared to the minimum spend I was working on for some cards. Well, they offered an extra 3% on anything for 3 months, up to $1,500 of spend. So, now I have 4% everywhere and 8% at grocery stores for 3 months. I'll try to keep the spend to just grocery stores, and try to max out the bonus. Now I just need some CLIs from them (currently at $6k).

I spent $1,106.54 total last year with them. So, I know why they don't want to give me increases, but I can dream.

[Anonymous]

Nice offer! Every little bit helps!

[Anonymous]

Nice offer for you, but nothing for me, darn it.  Just checked with CSR for all four (2 mine, 2 wife's) Discover cards, and nada.  These offers never seem to be there when I can take advantage of them.  Last fall I got an offer for an extra 2% cashback on non-bonus categories.  But I was already rocking a 3%-on-everything Visa, so I decided to pass, hoping the offer would be available later on if I passed on it.  No such luck.  Oh, they did offer me 0% APR on my Miles card.  But that doesn't really do me anything so I passed on that one.

Oh, well, I'll try again in a few months...

Chris.

[Anonymous]

That is a nice offer, congrats! I may have to acll in and try for that 8% grocery. lol

I doubt they'd give me a lower APR, as it's already low. Plus I almost never carry a balance.

[Man-Of-Steel]

Congrats on the APR reduction and spend offer, OP!  Hearing about that spend offer intrigued me a bit and I also remembered that it had been a long time since I requested an APR reduction for my account.  Here is a little bit of history regarding my account (TL;DR listed at the bottom of you want to skip the history).

It was opened in May 2013 with an APR of 22.99.  I had a couple of old baddies on my reports at the time, but starting in 2015, all of the new accounts that I've applied for have qualified for the lowest APR available.

I believe it was early June 2015 when I called in for that new Double All Year cashback match promotion and I asked them about an APR reduction while I had them on the phone.  They reduced it to 19.24.  Since then, I inquired about an APR reduction once through chat, but they told me that I would have to call in or someone would need to call me to initiate that process.  I declined as I felt it was too much of a hassle....lol.

Fast forward to today.  I wasn't even sure what my current APR was, so I had to review one of my recent statements to find out.  It was 20.74.  I called in and after speaking with the first rep, was transferred to a second department who could handle the request.  The second rep asked me if there was any particular reason I was requesting the APR reduction, given that I always pay my account in full.  I thought that was a fair question.  I haven't kept up with the latest APR reduction threads, so I'm not sure how common that question is.  I told the rep "no particular reason" and she informed me that she was able to lower it down to 17.74.  Unlike the OP, I wasn't asked about a spending bonus.  So, I took it upon myself to ask and was told that there weren't any offers available.

Overall, I'm satisfied with this result, but I probably won't be requesting any additional APR reductions.  

TL;DR:  I called in and they reduced my APR from 20.74 to 17.74, no spend offers were available.

[barbaralee]

Thank you so much for mentioning this! I have two Discover cards, and my husband has one. I called and they offered 0% on our cards, and when I said that isn't helpful for me and specifically asked for the spend bonus the rep offered me the 3% for the next 6 months on my husband's and one of my cards. The other one is still in its first year and is under the cash back match promotion. The rep told me she rarely offers it, because people do not often ask her about it, they just want the lowered apr.  

She also did mention that she sees the offer on cards that have not been used in a while as a retention thing. I have not used my card since last fall, and my husband only runs a Patreon donation through his. He has a credit line of 22,500 and only puts $4 on the card. 

And the rep did confirm it is 3% on top of the regular 1% and 5%.

[Anonymous]

Hmmm, I recently paid off a BT on mine and while I'm trying to amass MR's, I don't know if I can pass up 3-8%. I may have to call. Thanks. 

ETA: Wait, that'd be 4-8%. Wow.