Discover it® Secured

Your Discover it Secured Card approval odds are pretty good, even with bad credit. Discover it Secured was designed for building or rebuilding credit, which means you can get it despite being a newcomer or having a bad score. As long as you have at least $200 to put down for the mandatory security deposit, which serves as your credit line, your odds are very good. But nothing is guaranteed. In particular, Discover names three reasons why you might not be approved: not enough income, too much debt, or a pending bankruptcy. You can look into whether those exclusions apply to you by checking both your latest credit report and your personalized credit analysis, which you can get by signing up for a free WalletHub account.

In general, secured cards have the highest approval rates of any credit cards because there’s little to no risk to the issuer. They can just keep your security deposit if you don’t pay your balance, after all. If you do get denied, Discover will tell you exactly why in their response. But you don’t necessarily have to give up there. You’re allowed to call Discover at 1-800-347-2683 and ask them to reconsider your application.

And if you’re still denied after reconsideration, you’re not completely out of options. Becoming an authorized user on a friend’s or family member’s credit card account can help improve your credit, at least to the point where you can qualify for your own card. You may also want to check out our ”guaranteed approval” credit cards page to see if there are any offers available that don’t require a credit check. ​

Your Discover it® Secured may graduate to unsecured as soon as eight months after account opening, assuming you pay your monthly bills on time and otherwise manage your finances responsibly. But there’s no guarantee when, or if, it will happen. It all comes down to Discover’s determination of your creditworthiness. After the seven-month mark, Discover’s credit analysts will periodically review both your account and your overall credit history to see whether it’s appropriate to refund your security deposit, thus graduating you to an unsecured card. But there are some steps you can take to improve your odds.

Here’s how to become a Discover Secured Card graduate:

1. Pay on time. This is probably the most important part of the process. If you don’t pay your Discover it Secured bills by the due date, you won’t even be considered for graduation.

2. Use your card responsibly. Maintaining low credit utilization will indicate to Discover that you can handle an unsecured card. So aim to use only 30% or less of your “it” Card’s limit.

3. Improve your other finances. Adding to your income and paying down debt will improve your creditworthiness as a whole, making you a better candidate for an unsecured card.

If you do graduate, you’ll receive your full deposit back. But that could take as long as two billing cycles to happen, so don’t get worried if you don’t get it right away. You can call Discover customer service at 1-800-347-2683 to be sure, if the two-cycle period elapses without a check being sent.

And lastly, if it’s been over a year and you’ve always paid on time but haven’t heard from Discover, you should give them a call to inquire about graduating. Even if they say no, it doesn’t hurt to ask.

You can check your Discover it® Secured Credit Card status online or by phone: 1-800-347-2683. You’ll need to provide at least your Social Security number (SSN) to help Discover locate your application. And your status will be one of three things: approved, denied or pending. We’ll walk you through the full process for each method below.

Here’s how to check your Discover Secured Credit Card status:

1. Online: Visit Discover’s “Check Status” page, and enter your SSN and zip code in the provided fields. Click “continue,” and Discover will take you to a page listing the status of any applications you’ve made.

2. By phone: Call Discover customer service at 1-800-347-2683 and navigate the menu until you hear “check the status of a pending application”. Currently, you want to press “#” and then “4,” but that could change. After providing your first and last name, SSN and zip code, you’ll be able to hear your application status.

These instructions apply to any Discover credit card, not just Discover it Secured. And if you find out that you’ve been rejected, you can also call Discover and ask for reconsideration. But this is unlikely to work unless there’s been an important change related to Discover’s stated reason for rejecting you.

You will need a U.S. address and U.S. bank account. Other than that, you need to be at least 18 years of age, have a Social Security number and provide all the required information in the online application. Be sure to have your bank routing number and account number handy when you apply.