Discover it Secured Card Review Benefits

The Discover it Secured Card can help build good credit history.

Discover it Secured Card Review of Benefits and Drawbacks

For rebuilding credit, it’s hard to find a card like the Discover it Secured Card. It offers so many good things for people to encourage them to use the card. If you’ve never heard of a secured card or the Discover it Secured credit card, this is for you. We’ll talk about the benefits and drawbacks of this secured credit card. By the end, you’ll know if this is a card that fits your situation or if you should keep looking.

Discover it Secured Card Benefits

1. Lower Deposit Amount

This secured Discover card requires you to pay a deposit when you get it. This deposit is what you’ll have to spend for your credit line. The minimum amount you can deposit is $200. It’s a great choice for people who don’t have a lot of extra cash around. You do need banking information when before you get your card. This lets them secure your credit line deposit. If you do not have a bank account the OpenSky® Secured Visa® Credit Card is a credible option to consider.

2. Fast Upgrade Opportunities

Unlike several secured cards, the Discover it Secured Card comes with fast upgrade opportunities. If you submit every payment by the due date for eight months, they’ll review your account. If they don’t see any outstanding problems, they’ll consider transitioning you to an unsecured credit line. This is when you’ll get your initial deposit back as long as you pay off the balance. They’ll continue to review your account each month to see if you’re eligible for an upgrade.

3. Cash Back

It’s extremely rare to find a secured credit card that gives cash back. But, the Discover it Secured Card does just that. You’ll get cash back for every single purchase you make with your card. Make purchases at gas stations or restaurants and get 2% cash back. That is why at Credit Fast we think that this is one of the best gas cards for bad credit. This does drop to 1% when you hit the $1,000 mark. But, it starts over again every four months. You’ll get 1% cash back on every other purchase you make with the Discover secured card.

4. Cash Back Match

Discover rewards its cardholders at the end of their first credit year. They’ll give you a dollar-for-dollar cash back match. So, if you made $600 in cash back rewards, Discover would double it. This is free and automatic, so you don’t have to keep track of your rewards. It’s also a great incentive to use your card to work on your credit score.

5. No Annual Fee

This is a secured card, and it has absolutely no annual fee. This lets you use the card as much or as little as you want without a problem. It’s a good choice for people who don’t plan to use their card as much during the year. You won’t have to try and justify spending to earn enough rewards to match the annual fee. Any cash back rewards you earn each month are pure profit.

6. Free Social Security Number Monitoring

When you sign up for the Discover secured credit card, you’ll get free social security number monitoring. Discover will automatically crawl thousands of risky websites looking for your social security number. When it finds it, you’ll get a free text message alert to warn you. This feature can help to cut down on identity fraud and potentially save you money.

7. Free Credit Monitoring

You want to be able to watch your credit score go up. You can do this with free credit monitoring you get when you get the Discover secured card. It allows you to log in and check it each month. This helps you tell exactly where your credit is at all times. It’s also a good way to catch issues or fraudulent transactions in a hurry. You won’t get surprised by them a few months down the line.

8. Reports to All Three Credit Bureaus

This secured card will start reporting your activity to the credit bureaus after your first month. This is why it’s so important to have all of your payments submitted by or before the due date. You don’t want to have missed or late bill payments in your credit history. Missing payments or paying late can make your score worse and harder to build.

9. Credit Requirements

A lot of secured credit cards only work well for very low credit. However, the Discover it Secured Card has a higher range. It works very well to build credit until you hit at least 670. This feature lets you use this card for a longer period and still benefit from it. By the time you hit 670, you’ll usually get an upgrade to an unsecured card. This will help you continue to rebuild bad credit.

10. Easy Application Process

Applying for the Discover it Secured credit card is an easy process. You just have to fill out the online Discover application. You’ll know if you qualify for this card within minutes. Once you submit your banking information with the deposit, Discover will send you the card. You can start using it right away to build your credit.

11. Freeze It

The Discover Secured credit card comes with an important security feature. The Freeze It feature lets you freeze your card’s funds with the press of a button. It’s great if you lose or misplace your card. You can use the app to unfreeze it quickly when you locate it again as well.

Discover It Secured Card Drawbacks

1. High APR

This is a secured credit card, so it does have a higher interest rate. You’ll pay a variable rate of 24.49% each month you carry a balance. This can add up very fast, so it’s best to avoid it. You can avoid paying this rate by paying the total amount you owe every month. It’s a good incentive to learn responsible credit card use.

2. Lower Credit Lines

The credit line on the Discover secured card is lower. It all depends on what you can afford for an initial deposit. If it’s just $200, that’s what you have to spend. This can be restricting, and it won’t help out much in emergencies. But, if you can afford a higher deposit, you’ll get a higher line of credit. The maximum line of credit you can have with this card is $2,500.

3. Balance Transfer Fee

If you plan to do a balance transfer with this card, you’ll pay a fee. The fee works out to 3% of whatever amount you transfer to the card. So, if you decide to transfer $1,000 to the card, you’ll pay a $30 balance transfer fee. You’ll also pay an introductory balance transfer APR of 10.99% for the first six months. This isn’t a good card to transfer balances to because of the fees.

4. Late Payment Fee

If you forget to make a payment or miss it completely, you’ll pay a fee. The first time you miss it, there isn’t a fee, but every missed payment after that has one. It’ll cost you $27 each time you miss a payment. Also, if you miss two payments in a six-month span, the fee is $37. It also negatively impacts your credit score, and it can drop it a few points.

5. Slower Upgrade Time

Other secured cards will review and upgrade your account within four to six months. The Discover it Secured Card makes you wait until at least the eighth-month mark. If you don’t make it, you have to wait until the next month for another review. This can be frustrating, especially if you’re doing everything correctly.

CreditFast YouTube Video: Discover Secured Credit Card Review

The Discover it® Secured Credit Card Bottom Line

The Discover it Secured Card is a solid secured card for people who want to rebuild their credit score. As you can see, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. You’ll learn how to use it responsibly and get rewards along the way. It’ll allow you to rebuild your credit quickly and graduate to an unsecured card. All of these reasons make the Discover it Secured Card worth checking into.

CreditFast has reviewed the best secured credit cards on the market. Some of the credit card offers are from our advertising partners. CreditFast has objectively reviewed the features and benefits of each secured credit card. We have chosen credit card offers based on our editor’s recommendations.

Monica Kowollik

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