Discover Credit Cards

There are two types of Discover cashback bonuses. The first is Discover’s first year Cashback Match, which all “Discover it” credit cards currently offer. As you might be able to guess, Discover will match all the rewards you earn the first year your account is open. So if you rack up $500 in rewards during the first 12 months, for example, Discover will tack on another $500 as an anniversary present. The other type of Discover cashback bonus is a 5% bonus rate that a few “it” cards offer on the first $1,500 that you spend in designated purchase categories every three months. So you can earn as much as $75 in bonus Discover cashback each quarter – $300 per year – from one of the cards offering this deal: the regular Discover it, NHL Discover it and Discover it for Students. All other purchases earn just 1% cash back.

Although the Discover cashback bonus is pretty simple, you need to “activate” it every quarter to get that 5% rate. You can easily do so by logging into your Discover account from their cashback bonus page. You can activate the new categories on the first day of the quarter, and I’d definitely recommend doing it at soon as possible so you don’t miss out on any savings.

Here’s the Discover cashback bonus calendar:

• January – March 2019: Grocery Stores
• April – June 2019: Gas Stations, Uber, and Lyft
• July – September 2019: Restaurants
• October – December 2019: Amazon.com

So you can see up to a year ahead what categories are offered. If you don’t yet have one of the eligible credit cards, this should make the decision for whether to get one easier. If you don’t think you’ll spend much at these places, I’d suggest getting a Discover it card with a flat cashback rate instead, like Discover it Chrome. And no matter which Discover it card you get, they all come with Cashback Match, so you can look forward to those doubled rewards during your first year.

There are quite a few Discover Card 0% balance transfer deals, actually. Every Discover credit card offer has a reduced intro APR for balance transfers, and about half of them charge no interest at all for a period of time. But not every Discover card offering 0% balance transfers is equal, despite all the available options requiring good credit for approval and charging a 3% balance transfer fee. The Discover it – 18 Month Balance Transfer Offer stands a head above the rest in terms of 0% intro period length.

Here are the Discover Card 0% balance transfer deals:

• Discover it – 18 Month Balance Transfer Offer: As the name suggests, you get a 0% APR for 18 months. This is definitely the best Discover balance transfer option. You also get some great rewards with rotating 5% cash back categories.
• Discover it – Cashback Match: The regular Discover it card comes in only 4 months shorter at a 14-month 0% rate. It also gives rotating 5% rewards.
• NHL Discover it: This card is exactly the same as Cashback Match, except it has additional savings on NHL merchandise. It also has 0% for 14 months.
• Discover it Chrome: Chrome has 14 months of 0% APR too, but its rewards are a bit different. Instead of rotating categories, you’ll get a static 2% on your first $1,000 to restaurants and gas stations per quarter.

All of these cards have a few things in common: no annual fee, a good-credit approval requirement and the standard Discover Card 3% balance transfer fee. The fee gets added to what you owe, and you won’t pay any interest on it or the rest of the balance until the intro period ends. But you’ll still need to make on-time minimum monthly payments regardless. So if you want to have the longest amount of time to pay off your balance transfer, go for Discover it – 18 Month Balance Transfer Offer.

The Discover foreign transaction fee is 0%, or $0, on all cards. That means any Discover credit card you apply for now will have no foreign transaction fee, and you won’t be charged extra for making purchases that are processed internationally. Discover’s foreign fees went away in 2011, when Discover joined Capital One as the only major credit card issuers to remove foreign fees from all of their offers.

The only Discover cards with foreign transaction fees are discontinued offers issued prior to 2011. They charge 2%. You can’t get them anymore, but some people still have them.

Here are the Discover card foreign transaction fees:                        

                                                             So if you’re in the market for a new credit card, any Discover card you get will have no foreign transaction fees. But keep in mind that Discover has far less international acceptance than Visa or Mastercard. So you could run into places abroad where you can’t use your Discover card anyway – France, for example.

Assuming Discover is accepted where you’re going, the only thing that might actually cost you more is Dynamic Currency Conversion. That’s when a merchant asks if you want to pay in the local currency rather than U.S. dollars. You should always say no to that. Most of the time, you’ll get ripped off with high exchange rates.

The Discover good grades bonus is $20 per year you earn a GPA of 3.0 or higher, for up to five years. This Discover good grades bonus is available with the Discover it Student Cash Back and Discover it Student Chrome credit cards.

Getting your Discover good grades bonus for your credit card is easy. All you have to do is log in to your online account and go to “Your Shortcuts,” then “Good Grades Reward.” After you submit your school’s grading range and your GPA, you’ll receive a $20 statement credit within 7 business days.

It’s possible that Discover might ask you to send them proof of your grades, such as an academic transcript. If they do, you won’t be able to receive your bonus until you provide this proof. But Discover won’t always ask for verification.

You can also get a Discover good grades bonus with a student loan. That works a little differently. Instead of getting a flat cash back amount each year you instead get a one-time reward of 1% of the loan amount. There are a few more details of these two offers you should know about.

Here’s how the Discover good grades bonus works:

• Discover’s student credit cards give $20 cash back every year you have a 3.0 GPA or better – for up to five years.
• To get your card bonus, log in to your online account and go to “Your Shortcuts,” then “Good Grades Reward.” Put in your school’s grading range (e.g. 0.0 to 4.0) and your own GPA.
• The Discover good grades credit card bonus comes as a statement credit within 7 business days of when you submit your grades.
• If you have a Discover student loan and graduate with a 3.0 or higher, you’re eligible for a one-time cash bonus of 1% of the loan amount.

You are eligible for the Discover student loan good grades bonus if you took out such a loan on or after May 14, 2014 and graduated with a GPA of 3.0 or higher.

To collect your bonus, log in to your student loan account and submit your grades within 6 months of the academic period covered by the loan ending or 6 months after the loan’s final disbursement, whichever is later. You’ll get your 1% Discover good grades bonus as a check within 2-3 weeks.

You can check your Discover card application status online or by phone: 1 (800) 347-3085. Both methods are available 24/7. You just need to confirm your identity by inputting your Social Security number (SSN) and you’ll find out whether your Discover credit card application is approved, denied or pending.

How to check your Discover card application status online:

1. Go to Discover’s application check website.
2. Enter your Social Security number.
3. Enter your zip code.
4. Hit “Continue.”
5. View your Discover card application status.

It’s as simple as that. And it works pretty much the same way if you want to call. But we’ll give you the breakdown anyway.

How to check your Discover card application status by phone:

• Call the Discover credit card application status phone number: 1 (800) 347-3085. This line is available 24/7, and you’ll always get to speak to an actual person.
• Listen for the menu options. If you’d like skip the full list, press # on the first menu provided and 4 on the second. Please note that the menu options could change.
• Input your Social Security number when prompted.
• Listen for your application status.

If you end up getting denied, you do have the right to ask for reconsideration, but you’ll need to make the case that Discover’s information about you was incomplete/incorrect. Call customer service at 1 (800) 347-2683. Good luck!

A Discover cash advance will set you back a lot, unfortunately. For starters, there’s the standard Discover cash advance fee: $10 or 5% of the transaction amount, whichever is larger. All Discover credit cards have that. And the same is true of Discover’s cash advance APR: 27.24%. That’s standard too.

When you do a cash advance with a Discover card, you don’t get any time to pay off what you owe before interest kicks in. With a normal purchase, if you pay in full by the due date, you don’t pay any interest. But with cash advances, the interest rate applies immediately and interest compounds daily. That means interest applies to both your balance and previous days’ interest. So it’ll build up very quickly.

To do a cash advance with your Discover card, you’ll first need to request a PIN by calling the number on the back of your card. You’ll get it in 7-10 days and then will be able to use your card at ATMs. That’s pretty much all you need to know about how to do a cash advance. But it might be helpful to go into a little more depth about the fee and interest process, and how the cost builds up.

Let’s do a quick example of how a Discover cash advance works. Say you do a $300 cash advance. Add on a 5% fee, and you start out owing $315 (assuming there are no ATM fees). If you take even just 1 month to pay that back, you’re paying around $7 in interest. Assuming you make the same payment every month, taking 6 months will cost you around $25, and a year will be about $48. So as you can see, it’s in your best interest to pay things off as quickly as possible.

In addition to you being charged large fees and interest, your relationship with Discover may suffer. In particular, it might be harder to get a credit limit increase in the future. So it’s best to never take out a cash advance unless that’s your only choice. And if you’re ever in that situation, paying back what you owe as quickly as possible is crucial.

Discover card benefits include no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees on any card, along with security features such as SSN alerts and the ability to freeze your account on demand. Discover will also match all the rewards you earn in your first year. Plus, there’s a “Cash at Checkout” feature that allows cardholders to withdraw cash when making a purchase with a Discover card at specific retailers. Withdrawals are limited to $120 every 24 hours. They are charged at the card’s regular purchase APR, rather than the higher cash advance APR. All of these perks come standard on all Discover cards.
                                                                                                                                                                         
It’s important to note that Discover discontinued several key benefits in 2018. Travel insurance and auto rental coverage are no longer available as of February 28, 2018. Purchase protection, extended warranties, and return guarantee protection were also dropped at that time. The price protection benefit was cut on October 31, 2018. Purchases and claims posted before the expiration dates still received coverage.
                                                                                                                                                          
Discover will continue to provide free security benefits on all cards. They include 24/7 account monitoring, alerts that notify cardholders if their personal information has been compromised, and a “Freeze it” account feature. “Freeze it” allows cardholders to temporarily prevent any new purchases, cash advances or balance transfers if their card is lost or stolen.

The best Discover card deals include $0 annual fees, $0 foreign transaction fees and a 1st-year rewards match on all cards. Several Discover cards also offer 0% APRs on purchases and balance transfers for up to 14 months. And Discover’s student credit cards provide $20 per year for good grades for up to five years.

There used to be a program called Discover Deals, but Discover discontinued it on October 31, 2018. When it was active, it gave Discover cardholders the chance to earn extra rewards or get special discounts at over 100 partnered retailers.

Similarly, Discover recently eliminated a lot of benefits from their cards. They no longer offer purchase protection, return protection, extended warranties, rental car insurance or travel accident insurance. You can still earn some great rewards and save a lot on interest with the remaining Discover card deals, though.

For example, one of Discover’s best deals is its $0 fee secured card, It offers better rewards than the average card for any score. It gives 1%-2% cash back and matches whatever you earn the first year, as a post-anniversary bonus.

Another Discover card that’s an especially good deal compared to the competition is the Discover it Miles Card. It gives 1.5 miles per $1 spent on all purchases. You can redeem miles earned toward travel purchases such as airfare, hotel stays, car rentals, and more. There’s also a 0% for 14 months intro APR on purchases only.

Discover it Cash Back, Chrome, and the NHL card all offer an introductory 0% APR for 14 months on purchases and balance transfers with a 3% transfer fee. The Discover it Balance Transfer card offers an introductory rate of 0% for 18 months on transfers. To take advantage of these Discover card deals, you’ll need at least good credit (i.e. a 700+ credit score).

Discover card interest rate can be as low as 13.74% or as high as 24.74%, depending on your credit. That applies to all Discover it cards for people with good or excellent credit. If you have perfect credit, you might get a rate at the low end of the range. But if your credit is just barely good, you’ll probably pay 20%+.

Discover card interest rates for students and people with bad credit are a bit different. The two student cards have rates that range from 14.74% to 23.74%. And the Discover Secured Card’s interest rate is 24.74%.

All of those rates, or APRs, are variable. That means they can change as the overall lending environment does. Some Discover cards’ regular interest rates don’t kick in right away either. In fact, most Discover cards offer 0% introductory APRs on purchases, balance transfers or both. It’s important to know a card’s rates before you apply.

Here are the Discover card interest rates:

• Discover it Balance Transfer: 13.99% - 24.99% (V) regular APR. 0% for 6 months on purchases and 0% for 18 months on balance transfers.
• Discover it Cash Back: 13.99% - 24.99% (V) regular APR. 0% for 14 months on purchases and 0% for 14 months on balance transfers.
• NHL Discover it: 13.99% - 24.99% (V) regular APR. 0% for 14 months on purchases and 0% for 14 months on balance transfers.
• Discover it Chrome: 13.99% - 24.99% (V) regular APR. 0% for 14 months on purchases and 0% for 14 months on balance transfers.
• Discover it Miles: 13.99% - 24.99% (V) regular APR. 0% for 14 months on purchases and 10.99% for 14 months on balance transfers.
• Discover it Student Cash Back: 14.99% to 23.99% (V) regular APR. 0% for 6 months on purchases and 10.99% for 6 months on balance transfers.
• Discover it Student Chrome: 14.99% to 23.99% (V) regular APR. 0% for 6 months on purchases and 10.99% for 6 months on balance transfers.
• Discover it Secured: 24.99% (V) regular APR. No intro APR on purchases and 10.99% for 6 months on balance transfers.

There’s one more Discover card APR to take note of, too. Discover’s cash advance APR is 26.99%. If you use your card like a debit card to withdraw cash from an ATM, that APR will apply immediately and compound daily. So try not to do that if possible.

To activate a Discover card, use the online activation page or call Discover customer service at 1 (800) 347-2683. Discover card activation requires a Social Security number as well as the card number, expiration date and security code.

You don’t need a Discover username and password to activate a Discover card online. But having an account can streamline the process because you won’t have to enter extra personal information to verify your identity. Either way, Discover card activation is quick and easy. Plus, the steps are the same for Discover credit cards and debit cards.

How to activate a Discover card:

1. Go to the Discover card activation page.
2. Log in to your account or choose “Without Logging In” if you don’t have one.
3. Enter your birthdate, the last 4 digits of your SSN, your 16-digit card number and the card’s expiration date. (Only needed if you don’t log in)
4. Type in the 3-digit security code from the back of the card.
5. Click “Continue” to activate your Discover card.

You can use a Discover card immediately after activation. For security reasons, you cannot make any transactions with a Discover card before activating it. Activation ensures that someone doesn’t steal the card out of the mail and use it.

To activate a Discover gift card, use the online activation page or call 1 (866) 522-7026.