Discover Credit Cards

You need a 700+ credit score to get most Discover credit cards, but there’s no minimum credit score needed for three Discover cards. You can get the Discover it Secured Card with a bad credit score (below 640). And college students don’t need a credit score, or any credit experience, to get one of Discover’s two student credit cards. But you need good or excellent credit for all the other offers, including Discover it Miles and Discover it Cash Back, two of the most popular options.

If you’re not sure how your credit is doing, you can check your latest credit score for free on WalletHub, the only site where credit scores and reports update daily.

Whether your finances aren’t so great or they’re right on track, you should be able to find a Discover card that works for you. Let’s take a look at Discover’s offers and what score you need to get approved.

                                                                                    
Here’s the minimum credit score needed for each Discover card:

• Discover it Secured: No minimum score, will approve bad credit applicants
• Discover it Student Cash Back: Available to applicants with limited or no credit
• Discover it Student chrome: Available to applicants with limited or no credit
• Discover it Cash Back: Good credit (700+) required
• Discover it Balance Transfer: Good credit (700+) required
• NHL Discover it: Good credit (700+) required
• Discover it chrome: Good credit (700+) required
• Discover it Miles: Good credit (700+) required

There aren’t any Discover cards that flat-out require excellent credit, currently. But we recommend a score of at least 700, which is toward the top of the good range, for the cards that require good credit for approval. So most Discover cards may be a tough get for the average person, who has a credit score of 669.

With that being said, it’s not just your credit score you should worry about. For example, Discover will consider how your income compares to your debt, along with your employment status, whether you own or rent your home, how many loans and lines of credit you already have open, and more.

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.

To find the interest rate on a Discover card, look for the “Interest Charge Calculation” section on your monthly billing statement (electronic or paper). There, you will find the Annual Percentage Rates (APRs) for your account. If you don’t have your monthly statement handy, you can log in to your online account and download/print a copy any time.

You can also call Discover customer service at 1 (800) 347-3085 to find your interest rate. Follow the prompts until you reach the department that handles billing or general inquiries. Alternatively, you can send a message to Discover directly through their website. Under “Contact Us,” select either the “Message an Agent” feature or “Send a Secure e-mail” to request your interest rate.

To find out what the interest rate will be on a Discover credit card you’re thinking about applying for, compare Discover card offers online. Under “Regular APR,” you’ll be able to see the possible APRs on each card. There may also be promotional 0% introductory APRs, depending on the card.

APRs typically come as a range. The actual rate a cardholder receives within that range depends on various factors. They include credit history, income, debt level and more. Keep in mind that the APR is the annual interest rate on your account. To calculate your daily interest rate, divide the APR by 365 for the number of days in a year.

How to find the interest rate on a Discover card:

• Check your statement: Look under the “Interest Charge Calculation” section.
• By phone: Call customer service at (800) 347-3085 any time.
• Online: Log in to your online account and download a copy of your billing statement. Or, click the “Contact Us” link at the bottom of the page and select “Message an Agent.”

It’s easy to find the interest rate on a Discover card, and there are plenty of methods to do it. Customer service is available 24/7 to help you if you have any trouble.

This information is accurate as of the date of posting.

Discover is neither a Visa nor a Mastercard. It’s more like an American Express card, but they’re not exactly the same, either. Discover is similar to Visa, Mastercard and American Express in the sense that all four are card networks. Each helps process payments for the cards on its network, determines where those cards can be used, and provides extra benefits such as rental car insurance. However, Discover is different from Visa and Mastercard in that most credit cards on the Discover network are issued by Discover. Visa and Mastercard aren’t issuers, so cards on their networks come from lots of different banks and credit unions. Amex, like Discover, is both a card issuer and a card network.

Here’s how Discover differs from Visa or Mastercard:

• Discover is both a credit card issuer and a card network. Visa and Mastercard are networks only. 
• Visa and Mastercard are accepted in more than 200 countries and territories, compared to 185 for Discover. 
• Visa and Mastercard are accepted at 10.7 million U.S. merchant locations, versus 10.4 million for Discover.
• Discover credit cards don’t have foreign transaction fees. Visa and Mastercard credit cards charge 0% to 3% of purchases processed internationally.  

If you look at the front of your Discover card, you should see “Discover” with an orange dot for the “o.” Each network has a logo, so it’s easy to tell them apart. And while Discover cards are generally fine to use anywhere in the U.S., you might have trouble in certain countries abroad. So it’s probably best to have a backup Visa or Mastercard. 

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.

The Discover card grocery store list does not include “big-box” stores such as Walmart, Target, Sam’s Club and Costco. Discount stores, convenience stores and gas stations are not on the list, either.

The last time Discover cards included grocery store purchases as a 5% bonus category was the quarter ending March 31, 2019. Gas, Uber, and Lyft purchases all earn 5% cash back through June 2019. The remaining bonus categories for 2019 are restaurants (July-September) and Amazon.com (October-December). The expectation is that grocery stores will appear as bonus category again next year. Grocery purchases also offered 5% cash back for the quarter ending June 30, 2018.

For those who aren’t familiar, certain Discover cards offer a 5% cash back bonus for purchases at grocery stores and other spending categories that change every quarter. The 5% cash back bonus is limited to the first $1,000 - $1,500 spent in a specific quarter’s categories. Purchase amounts over the limit will earn 1% cash back. Cardholders must sign up for each new category to receive the cash back bonus.

To make a Discover card payment, log in to your online account or call 1 (800) 347-2683. You can also mail payments to Discover Financial Services, P.O. Box 6103, Carol Stream, Illinois 60197. For fastest service, you should submit your payment online or by phone. Discover does not charge a fee for any of its payment methods.

Discover will credit payments to your account the same day if they’re received by midnight Eastern Time, 6 days a week. Discover does not process payments on Saturday. If Discover receives a payment after midnight on a Friday, or on a bank holiday, it will credit to your account the next business day. Phone and online payments submitted before 5 p.m. Eastern Time on the payment due date will credit to your account the same day and will be considered on time. If the payment due date falls on a weekend or bank holiday, payments will process on the next business day.

When a payment is credited as received, it is initially reported as pending while it’s being processed. During this time, a hold is placed on the payment, so you won’t see an immediate increase in your available credit. The hold is lifted when Discover posts the payment to your account, usually 1-3 days after it is submitted. At this stage, the payment has been confirmed and the transaction is considered complete.

How to make a Discover card payment:

• Online: Log in to your Discover online account. Click the “Make a Payment” button and enter the payment amount as well as info about the account from which the payment will be withdrawn. You can schedule your payment for any day up to the due date.
• Phone: Call customer service 24/7 at 1 (800) 347-2683. Enter the last 4 digits of your card number. Follow the voice prompts until you reach the payment option or press zero to speak to a customer service representative.
• Mail: Send a check or money order to Discover Financial Services, P.O. Box 6103, Carol Stream, Illinois 60197. Discover does not accept cash payments. Be sure to write your account number on the “memo” line.

Discover does not charge a late fee the first time you don’t pay on time. After that, you will be charged a fee for every late payment. So to avoid any late fees, it’s best if you submit your Discover card payment at least 5-7 business days before the due date. Another option is the DirectPay feature in which Discover automatically debits your payment from your bank account every month by the due date so you don’t have to. You can set up DirectPay online or by phone.

If you make your Discover card payment on time and in full each month, you’ll avoid costly interest charges. Discover gives you a 25-day grace period (23 in February) from the end of the billing period until the payment due date.

To get your Discover card account number you'll first need to look at the 16 digits code on the front of your card. Ignore the first 6 digits, which are used to identify the bank which issued the card.

You should also ignore the last digit, which is a check code used to verify that the card number is correct. The remaining digits are your account number.

The Discover minimum payment is the greater of $20, 3% of the full balance plus any past-due amount, or $15 plus new interest and late fees. If the entire balance is lower than $20, then the balance amount is the minimum payment.

The Discover minimum payment calculation is a bit unusual. Most other major credit card companies charge 1% of the balance plus interest and fees, or a flat dollar amount (e.g. $25), whichever is higher.

It’s important to always make at least the Discover minimum payment by the monthly due date. Doing so will keep your account in good standing. There’s no fee for the first late payment. After that, there’s a fee of up to $39 per late payment. And you may suffer credit score damage as well.

The Discover minimum payment is the greater of:

• $20
• 3% of the new balance (plus past-due amounts, but not fees/interest)
• $15, plus past due-amounts, interest and late fees (totaling 4% or less of the new balance)

A Discover minimum payment will never be more than your full balance. And you’ll only be required to pay your full balance if it’s $20 or less.

But it’s best to try to pay your balance in full each billing cycle. If you don’t, you will lose your grace period, which means interest will start to accrue on new purchases immediately from the purchase date. Credit card interest is really expensive. And it takes paying in full for two billing cycles in a row to get the grace period back.