After ds1 had trouble getting a credit card while a senior and then an AmeriCorps kid for his first year post-graduation, I’m wondering whether to advise ds2, a college junior, whether to go ahead and get a Discover card as the company keeps sending solicitations. Of course, we’ve raised him to pay off the balance every month so we’re not worried about interest rate. And, yeah, we know that Discover isn’t taken as many places, but he likely will graduate without any student loans so that’s not going to help him build a credit record. There’s no annual fee. Is there any real downside to Discover for a newbie? TIA
I have two credit cards. My primary one is Discover and the other one I use as a backup is Visa.
Frankly speaking I have never had the issue of the Discover card not being accepted.
I pay my monthly bills in full every month and have never had a problem with Discover.
My daughter who is also a college student has been receiving mailings from them and I am planning to have her open her first credit card with them to establish her credit. I refuse to pay any annual fees on my credit cards and have been very happy with using Discover as my primary card.
We have limited ability to use Discover around here. Most places do take MCard and Visa but Discover is more iffy on acceptance.
In our area, Discover is accepted enough places to make it my go-to credit card.
I can’t comment on use of Discover card, but I can comment on their customer service. My Mom had a Discover card and BY FAR their customer service was the MOST helpful. I had to take over as guardian for my Mom when her dementia got to the point where finances were a mess to say the least. She had charged a “free” trip to Bermuda partly on Discover and partly on another card (low credit limit on Discover). Discover went above and beyond to help me get those charges off. I’d cancelled her account by the time I actually got the refund from the “free” trip. Discover called and sent me a check when the refund came to them, even though the account was closed. And just lately, when Mom had an identity theft issue where someone applied for 5 credit cards in her name, it was Discover that called me and said it had happened. That was my first alert that something was wrong. I eventually got all the cards stopped and froze Mom’s credit (which, yes, yes I know I should have done it sooner). But compared to the “customer unservice” of other banks, Discover was just really proactive and helpful.
I love my discover card. It’s my go to card. Great benefits. And customer service is top notch.
Wow, y’all are fans! He says he’ll apply.
Our family use Discover more frequently than our other credit cards.
But I heard some doctor’s offices may not take Discover.
It’s a great card to start with. If your son is dissatisfied with that card, he can apply for a different one once he’s built up his credit history.
The main negative I’ve experienced was that on study abroad, very few places outside of airports took Discover (I had another card so it was fine, but it does make the whole “no foreign transaction fee” rather pointless). But the only time I’ve not had it accept in US was at a haircut, so if he’s just planning on staying in US, I would go for it.
The calls I had to make for letting them know about my abroad travels were quick and painless. The free FICO credit score is really nice and convenient. So other than abroad, I have no complaints.
New graduate son couldn’t get any card from MC/visa because he hadn’t built
up any credit - Discover was only card that gave him a card that didn’t have to be secured. Now six months later he’s getting offers from other cards but it was a good starter card.
D got a card from AmEx st Codtco as her first independent card when she was shopping there. She hasn’t applied for any since. Nice to hear people happy with Discover.
discover card is a good company and has very good customer service. it is not a great credit card if you are out of the united states. but I would get and use it to establish credit and continue to use it as a primary or secondary credit card .
My college son got a Discover card a couple of years ago and it’s a great card for establishing credit. When he did study abroad last year in Japan, he used a Target Visa card. It’s my account, but he’s an authorized user and has his own card. He was able to use the Discover card in some places there, but by and large, Japan is a very cash-based society and credit cards of any kind aren’t as widely used as they are in the U.S.
I’ve had a Discover card since 1987. It’s been great. Added my s’s to it a long time ago (they are no longer on it) but it helped them build their credit.
I do not know anything about Discover but my daughter did not have a problem getting unsecured Chase Freedom Visa with $500 credit limit the Summer after freshmen year. All she did was specifying monthly earnings from her Summer job. She also has Savings and Student Checking with Chase (not sure if this made a difference).
For travel abroad she is an authorized user of my no foreign fees Chip and PIN cards. This also built some credit history for her before she got the Chase card under her name.