please sum up all discover dislike in this thread

[racer-x]

Discover and BoA started me with sub $2k CL's when I was getting $15k CL's 2 yrs ago

After the lst year, and 1 HP later, I went to Discover $5k, same for BoA.

6mos later and yet another HP, bumped to Discover $12.9k and $10.1 k with BoA.  I was pushing $175k in CL, and consistent low low 700's.

And then the AA came down like the 'red' plague back in Dec.  I carried balances for 3mos. at the end of the year on the Discover and about 4 other accounts that previously PIF'd every month.

BoA called me to ask about the change in my spending/payment/balance carrying routine and graciously left my accouunts alone.....20% utilization on $14.1k CL's.

Discover however, CLD'd to over 95% utilization.  Also CLD'd to 95%+ utilization with Chase on 3 accts and US Bank on 1 of 3 accounts in January.

Total CLD's - $32k-ish.

All Chase accounts and Discover were PIF'd, US Bank paid down to 80% immediately.  The PIF'ing of the accounts were planned before the AA happened, but they acted more quickly than I could to right the ship. 

EX on Exdirect jumped 31 pts last night when Discover and a US Bank Harley Visa reported $0 balances overnight and the US Bank PLOC that got CLD'd did report at 80% utilization (not sure how bad that is hurting me)....I know it's EX fako, but it has always been close to myFico.  We'll see what myFico says since i have the 3 report monitoring pkg. 

Almost 720 again....68 pt increase in 23 days.

Sorry for getting into the details, but if I didn't, I was sure as hell gonna be asked.

[chalupaman]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Pros:

1. Decent rewards. 

2. Good customer service. 

3. Shop Discover can amplify rewards to some extent. 

Cons (not really major cons IMO):

1. Unique method for CLs that seems substantially different from other prime banks

2. Decent but not great rewards program

3. Not as widely accepted as Visa/Mastercard

4. Very similar to Freedom, but not as useful for someone with a CSP (more useful for someone without a CSP given Shop Discover)

The card is decent, but rarely has a spot in my wallet. I don't love or dislike it. Shop Discover is sometimes useful and the 5% restaurant category is sometimes useful especially since I can max out the $1500 limits on the Freedom and Discover for restaurants in under 2 months even if they coincide. The holiday shopping 5% category is sometimes useful since my Amazon spend is well above my Sallie Mae $750/month limit during the holiday season. I occasionally use the card, but it is not one of my go to cards. 

People seem to hate discover more than they should. The credit limits are sometimes funky, but every issuer has the right to determine its risk formula. If you have a low limit, chances are something is spooking them in your credit file. The Discover cards have no AFs, better than average rewards (compared to the average rewards card), and good customer service. If you really want to hate on an issuer, First Premier or whatever bank issuers the Verve card (or similar cards) are much better targets. Discover cards are not for everyone, but they are not bad. 

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I completely agree.

I also noticed that as I get more and more history, Discover seems to be gradually loosening up more. I was stuck at $500 up until December, so about 8 months of having the card and was initally disappointed by the HP $500 increase but completely surprised when I saw that I gottten $500 more as an auto CLI over a month later. I'm pretty excited to see where the card might go and whether it can surpass my CapOne Quicksilver with the limit. Sure it grows slower but long term, I can see them giving out CLIs much more regularly. I was one of those people who thought they were just being incredibly stingy and even made a thread about it a while back. All in hindsight for me.

[racer-x]

Racerx - So how do I feel about Discover now, eh, I understand why they did it.  I was pissed about the 8 day security hold they put on my PIF payment that made me miss the statement cut.  It sure as hell was out of my bank account and was showing the balance change on my online statement, but not on the statement cut.

BoA got my respect just by the simple phone call.  That was appreciated.

I'll continue to use Discover sparingly.....and see what happens.

[chalupaman]

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@racer-x wrote:

Racerx - So how do I feel about Discover now, eh, I understand why they did it.  I was pissed about the 8 day security hold they put on my PIF payment that made me miss the statement cut.  It sure as hell was out of my bank account and was showing the balance change on my online statement, but not on the statement cut.

BoA got my respect just by the simple phone call.  That was appreciated.

I'll continue to use Discover sparingly.....and see what happens.

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I'm glad you're giving more details as to what happened. Thankfully you have some diversification in your profile and it seems like BoA has really treated you well despite what happened and all.

[racer-x]

Racerx - lol, but.....I PIF'd 21 out of 24 mos I had the card.  Do I feel I deserved the AA, hell no, but who does.  If BoA had the time and courtesy to call me, not sure why Discover with their world renowned CS couldn't have done the same.

As far as Chase, I'll do the same with them, use sparingly.

US Bank can EAD and DIAF.

So maybe if you always PIF on any account and then you suddenly carry a few balances, that would be cause for AA?...because it is 'out of the norm' for that cardholder?

IDK.  I feel things have smoothed out.  If they haven't, I'm hitting Lending CLub up, PIF'ing everything and cuttin' up every card I have.  That'll learn each and every one of 'em.

[racer-x]

popa - search me out on here and you'll see I have threads on each and every one of my recent AA issues.

[bigblue7722]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@bigblue7722 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Here is one thing which i don't think was mentioned: I dislike the fact that Discover doesn't have a variety of products. It is the reason I never applied for their It card. 

With chase for example, you get the Freedom to build a relationship with the bank, and then you have the option to get sapphire, hyatt, southwest etc. 

Similar situation with citi, amex etc. 

With Discover, you get the It, then you have the It. End of the line. 

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i tend to agree with you on the lack of products. The business model at discover is an interesting one, only offering one "real" card but i dont think they do anything special compared to ther other credit card companies. If your really only gonna offer one product you better damn well make sure its a good one. Heres my bad analogy, look at Pepes pizza in CT. They offer one thing on their menu, pizza, but you know what its the best pizza in the world so theres no need to offer anything else besides different toppings of course. Discover does nothing to stand out. I think they should start by giving more than 1% back on all other purchases. With citi double cash and cap one QS offering more why would i ever use my IT card when its not a bonus category time? Discover has no AF big deal. They are supposed to have great customer service, i think chases is much better. Discover will never had a bonus onto your account. For example, if you applied for a IT card today and tomorrow they offered 150 cash back for 750 spend they wont give it to you. Chase on the other hand would give you the bonus in a second. Free fico score big deal barclays gives me that. If discover wants to stand out they should offer:

1. all three credit scores

2. at least 1.5% back on all purchases

3. a yearly spend offer 

4. the ability to just apply for the secured card

5. Always offer a sign up bonus 

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Not happening any time soon.

This would be nice, but don't see it happening without AF.

They occasionally offer this. $250 Bonus CB for $1,500 spend for 7 months (Used to be 5 months)

This is what seperates them from subprime. Disagree.

They do, You can take the signup bonus, or the 0% APR for 12-18mos.

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I dont understand your argument about number 4. So your saying BOA is subprime beacuse i can just apply for a secured card? I think BOA does it right with being able to apply for unsecured and if denied possibly get the 99/500 offer or the ability to apply just for fully secured.

Where do you see the sign up bonus or the 0% APR? I just did a mock application it gave me no such option on thier site. And even if you can somehow, chase freedom offers both the 0% and a sign up bonus so why would anyone choose discover? 

Another thing i forgot to metion about discover you cant recon. For a business that is based on "great" customer serivce you would think if they deny someone they would be open to doing a recon. 

[kdm31091]

While I get what you're saying, offering recons does not mean general good customer service. If you are declined there's a reason. maybe Discover doesn't feel they can or should override it instantly.

[chalupaman]

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@racer-x wrote:

popa - search me out on here and you'll see I have threads on each and every one of my recent AA issues.

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Oh my bad. I remember now. Darn short term memory.

[chalupaman]

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@kdm31091 wrote:
While I get what you're saying, offering recons does not mean general good customer service. If you are declined there's a reason. maybe Discover doesn't feel they can or should override it instantly.

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I think people are just used to how flexible Barclays and Chase can be with their recon process and expect other lenders to be similar in that respect. Discover, CapOne and Citi tend to rely much more on the automated system IMO.