Is It Hard to Get a Discover® Card? | The Motley Fool (2024)

FAQs

Is it hard to get approved for a Discover card? ›

If you want to get a Discover® credit card, you may be wondering how hard it is to get approved. Your credit score plays an important role here. The best Discover credit cards are aimed at consumers with FICO® Scores of 670 or above. If you have good or excellent credit, that helps quite a bit.

The minimum credit score needed to get most Discover credit cards is 700 or above. There are a few Discover cards for which there's no minimum credit score requirement, such as the Discover it® Secured Credit Card which you can get with a bad credit score (below 640).

You can get a Discover credit card with any credit score or even no credit history at all. Discover has credit card options to fit every consumer. If you have bad credit or no credit history, you could get a secured card with Discover.

Common reasons applicants are denied credit cards include low credit scores, no credit history, inadequate ratio of income vs. expenses, and not meeting minimum age requirements.

The Discover it Secured Credit Card's income requirement is a minimum of $10,000 annually unless you're a college student. For students, there's usually no proof of income required in order to be approved for the card.

Discover uses multiple resources to confirm income and employment status: To verify income: Documents like recent pay stubs or bank statements can serve as income verification. In certain situations, we may use third-party vendors to confirm that information.

Discover is one of the best issuers when it comes to low rates and fees, and most Discover cards have the potential to earn a welcome offer that outpaces the welcome offers on many of the best rewards cards. Capital One, on the other hand, offers consistent everyday value with several of its credit cards.

Discover is accepted nationwide by 99% of the places that take credit cards.

Do Discover credit card limits run high or low? Discover credit card limits will always be at least $500, and there's no disclosed maximum. How much you get is determined by your creditworthiness. The only exception is if you have Discover it® Secured Credit Card.

What credit bureau does Discover pull from? ›

Discover may pull from any of three major credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, but it appears based on consumer-reported data the bank leans heavily on Equifax to source many credit reports, followed by Experian and TransUnion.

Discover is a direct-to-consumer issuer, meaning that it doesn't partner with banks that help promote and distribute its products. There's about one-seventh the number of Discover cards as Visa cards, so merchants may not have as much of an incentive to accept them.

According to FICO, a 'good' credit score is a score between 670 and 739. FICO credit scores range from 300 to 850, with higher scores indicating greater creditworthiness. If you want the best shot of approval for the Discover it Cash back, you'll probably want a score of at least 670 or above.

At this point, there are three possible outcomes: You can be instantly approved for an account, instantly denied, or receive a message that your application needs further review. With an instant approval, the issuer will typically deliver the card in 7-10 business days.

You can apply and get approved for a credit card within minutes. However, receiving your card in the mail can take 7-10 business days.

For example, there's no credit score required to apply for a Discover it^® Secured Card. Generally, the minimum credit score needed for a secured card is lower than the minimum score you need to qualify for an unsecured credit card, or a credit score may not be required at all.