Discover it secured

[Anonymous]

Hello thanks in advance for your advice and thoughts.  I was pre-approved tonight for a discover secured I've had a bit of a rocky road in the past so I am rebuilding.  I'm told this card is a more positive than most since it has a potential to unsecure.  Should I plan to make the max deposit?  Will this help me gain higher limits in the future when I begin to get other cards?  So far I have a $1000 cap 1 secured just got approved for a $300 cap1 (super low)  The max for discover it is 2500 would it benefit me much more than doing another $1000 card?  For myself personally, I dont see the point in doing the minimum of $200 because it doesnt seem like the card would really be usable for anything important.. (hotel, rental car, or if i use it for groceries)  

[KJinNC]

I think you should get the card. I would not feel pressure to make a maximum deposit. You can expand it later if you like by calling them, any time after your first statement cuts.

It's an excellent card for starting out and will always be useful. It can unsecure after seven statements, though it is not guaranteed to unsecure then. Mine did, but I see others who have to wait longer. The factors involved, like all Discover decision-making, are mysterious and sometimes counterintuitive.

The secured card can be product-changed after the first statement. Many people on this board product-change it to the rotating 5% card. It is still secured, it just has the rotating 5% reward structure. It also matches cash back for the first 12 months.

The only negative is that when/if the card unsecures, it is likely to grow slowly. My secured Discover with a $1,000 credit limit unsecured on time last December, exactly seven statements and a week after opening, to a new credit limit of $1,500. Since then, it has soared to ... $1,800, while I have multiple newer cards at or over $10,000 including one at $20,000. Discover is my oldest open card and my smallest open card. It can be puzzling and a bit frustrating.

Still worth it, though. I'd go for it. JMO, good luck!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello thanks in advance for your advice and thoughts.  I was pre-approved tonight for a discover secured I've had a bit of a rocky road in the past so I am rebuilding.  I'm told this card is a more positive than most since it has a potential to unsecure.  Should I plan to make the max deposit?  Will this help me gain higher limits in the future when I begin to get other cards?  So far I have a $1000 cap 1 secured just got approved for a $300 cap1 (super low)  The max for discover it is 2500 would it benefit me much more than doing another $1000 card?  For myself personally, I dont see the point in doing the minimum of $200 because it doesnt seem like the card would really be usable for anything important.. (hotel, rental car, or if i use it for groceries)  

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I'd defintely go forward with getting the card. You can deposit the minimum until you decide how much you want to deposit. I have read on here that people with even a deposit limit as low as $200 have graduated with a CLI bump up to $2500, $2000, or even as low as $750. You can search in the main search bar for discover secured card threads and find a lot of information. You won't graduate before 7 months. Most do after their 7th statement, however each profile is different and some go as long as a couple of years. 

I am about to hit my 7th statement in November. I am hoping to graduate. I started with $300. A couple months later I called Discover and added to my deposit raising it to $700. Raised it again to $1000. I then capped out and raised it to $2500. I am glad I did because I use it OFTEN and want to get the cash back. However, it has been said around here a lot, and has yet to be disproven that those of us who use the maxed out $2500 deposit limit don't usually receive an increase after graduation like most. Now, it doesn't mean nobody hasn't received one, but throughout this forum, we have yet to see where anyone with the max secured limit HAS received one. I have also read that the card isn't necessarily bucketed, and it does grow. However, after one year, you can apply for a 2nd Discover card, often times reaching much higher limits than the graduated secured you have in your wallet. 

Don't miss the opportunity to get in with Discover. After you graduate, let one statement cycle go by, then you can call to product change to a different version of their cash back cards. The Secured version is a Discover It Chrome, some don't know that. It will graduate as a Discover It Chrome with the main focus being 2% on gas and dining and 1% on all other purchases. It is not one of the 5% rotating categories cards. Personally, since I commute to work daily 40 minutes one way, I may not product change my card, I may just app for a regular cash back card down the road. Unless I get a card from another lender with higher than 2% on gas. 

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

You should seriously consider it. Given a second chance I would have gone the Discover secured route and skipped Cap One altogether. Limit is $500 but once my first statement cuts plan to raise it to $1500. 

Pros

-guaranteed to graduate (though some take more time than others)

-unlimited cash back match after 1 year

-useful benefits (I like gas/restaurants but I swear I read around here you can switch to the 5% categories if that works better)

-free FICO monthly

Cons

-only thing I can think of is limited acceptance. But that might be a regional issue? I'm in Northern CA and have yet to run into a place that doesn't accept Discover. 

I frickin LOVE this card.  GL on your journey! 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

You should seriously consider it. Given a second chance I would have gone the Discover secured route and skipped Cap One altogether. Limit is $500 but once my first statement cuts plan to raise it to $1500. 

Pros

-guaranteed to graduate (though some take more time than others)

-unlimited cash back match after 1 year

-useful benefits (I like gas/restaurants but I swear I read around here you can switch to the 5% categories if that works better)

-free FICO monthly

Cons

-only thing I can think of is limited acceptance. But that might be a regional issue? I'm in Northern CA and have yet to run into a place that doesn't accept Discover. 

I frickin LOVE this card.  GL on your journey! 

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Over here in the St. Louis region I've yet to run into a place who doesn't accept Discover. I feel like I've read that you can Change to the 5% rotating categories card. However when I asked a Discover CSR about a PC before graduation, she said no, it has to be graduated to be eligible to product change to a different cash back or any product of theirs. Now, maybe it was just the rep I spoke with.... but I'm fairly certain you can't change from a secured Chrome to a secured anything else. 

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous Hi there. I found the post. This is from Jan 2020. Either its possible or this person got lucky and good for them. lol Further down someone mentions a PC is fine after first statement cut. 

Maybe try a different rep? If its still a no then perhaps they changed the policy. 

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Discover-It-Secured-PC-to-5-rotating-categories/td-p/5898168

[quikj9]

@Anonymous I was able to PC my secured Discover IT after the first statement. It's currently 4 months old and earning 5% in quarterly categories. You don't have to wait until the card graduates to product change. 

You can use this link to PC if preferred to calling in:

Discover Product Change Link 

[Anonymous]

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@quikj9 wrote:

@Anonymous I was able to PC my secured Discover IT after the first statement. It's currently 4 months old and earning 5% in quarterly categories. You don't have to wait until the card graduates to product change. 

You can use this link to PC if preferred to calling in:

Discover Product Change Link 

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@Anonymous  @quikj9  thank you both! Wow, my rep told me wrong in saying I have to graduate first. This was in October of 2020 less than two weeks ago. While the 2% on gas is great right now, the Q4 rotating category would trump my gas spend as far as return of cash back rewards goes. Thanks. Better make a call today lol 

[KJinNC]

You can definitely change it, while secured, to another card type, as long as one statement has cut. If the CSR says you can't, say thanks, hang up, call again. Not only did I do it when my card was still secured, so have many others on this board.

[BmoreBull]

I loved my Discover secured. Pc'd to the 5% categories as soon as I found out I could. And hit the PayPal cap last quarter. My card graduated right after the 7th statement cut , so as long as you use and it and pay on time, shouldn't be a problem. As far as the deposit, put what makes you feel comfortable using the card without having it maxed out. I started with $200 and that was too low. I was constantly paying it off to keep utilization low. I upped it to five hundred and never had a problem after that. But that's what fit my spend. One thing I will say is, I've never seen any one personally who had the max deposit get an increase upon graduation. They just got their deposit back and the limit stayed the same. I got a boost to $1800 when I graduated and I've seen people get $2-2.5k. So just something else to consider. Good luck.