Visa and MC just run their respective payment networks. They aren't involved in the approval process of applications. The actual issuing bank is. And every bank has their own reasons for approving or denying one.
My best guess is you have much available credit. Your credit limit of $50k is high, and compared to your annual income of $39k sounds like you've got very low utilization, meaning they're probably seeing it as a red flag that you're asking for more. In recent years with delinquency rates soaring, banks are tightening things up to try and to lower their risk, which means they're only going to lend you so much money.
I'd recommend you wait for the rejection letter, which should state the reasons they turned you down. You can call Discover's reconsideration line to bring it to an actual human's attention. If it's indeed the case that your overall credit limit was too high, I'd recommend you ask the other banks to lower the limit on the cards you don't use, and then reapply in 6 months or so.
You’re way too worried about having a discover card. If they don’t want your business give it to the banks that do. There’s nothing you are missing in life by not having a discover card. They’re being bought by Capital One anyway and who knows what that looks like in the future. None of it is anything to lose sleep over.
I'd like to at least better understand why Discover keeps rejecting me in the first place. So having already told you some of my important metrics, why do you suppose they'd reject me in the first place? And are there any more metrics that I need to share on this thread that could further explain why I can't get approved with Discover?
Wait until you get the rejection letter in the mail. They’re required to send one. It’s probably due to your income to credit ratio. You want 128% of your yearly income in non-secured, revolving credit…
Also, Visa and Mastercard didn’t approve you. A bank approved you and issued a card that works on their networks.
What does the rejection letter say. It tells you why they are rejecting.
Here you go:
It tells you right there. You look desperate for money.
Recent inquiries, recent balances and your auto loan balance is too high.
This has nothing to do with your credit score, it has everything to do with what’s happening within your profile.
All I wanted to do was have my lines of credit aggregately total over $50,000 so that I could maximize my credit utilization ratio and therefore maximize my credit score. I collected about 10 or so credit cards, and then my family made me cut up most of them and ordered me to call their customer service lines to close their accounts so that I would not use the virtual versions of their cards on Google Pay either.
I wasn't planning on using most of the cards, they were only going to be a tool to possess just so I could maximize my credit score by maximizing my credit utilization ratio.
I understand what you’re wanting to do, but your wants vs the banks risk thresholds are 2 different things.
Discover thinks you’re too high of a risk with your existing credit profile
I got approved for $7,000 with way lower credit. I had more income at the time. Maybe it’s your income.
I mean $39,000 is just above poverty level so you're basically playing roulette with your applications. I'm amazed the others have approved you for anything
What did the rejection letter say?
I'll let you know when it arrives.
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I've been thinking about applying for a Discover myself so I'm curious what they end up saying.
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Hey, OP, any updates? Did you ever get the letter from Discover?
Here it is.
Thank you for posting! Out of curiosity, how long ago was your most recent hard inquiry? And what was your utilization when you applied? (They say "change in balance" ... I'm assuming they mean too high, but who knows, it could be too low). How much is left on your auto loan?
I was thinking of applying for a Discover card, but my most recent inquiry was only 3 months ago. They gave me preapproval but I think that's based on Experian, which has 0 inquiries... worried on the off chance they check TransUnion they'll see 2 in 9 months. I've also been trying to ramp up spending on a Cap1 card to squeeze another CLI out of Cap1, so I'm curious about the balance issue too.
My last hard inquiry was only approximately 2 to 3 weeks ago as of the date of that letter.
I currently have exactly $15,000 in student loans left to pay.
My auto loan is currently around $25,000.
I cropped out the part of the letter that included my sensitive personal information, and only left the part that mattered the most; the part that you were looking for. Here you go:
I would definitely say income and how many cards did you apply for in the last two years I'm pretty sure if your apply for multiple cards in a short period of time that's also a red flag.
I'm on track to have about 9 credit cards nowadays. Discover would've been about the 10th. Most of them have been applied for within the past 2 years.
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Discover is becoming a hard card to get ... i had a hard time getting approved
Capital one is doing a overhaul on Discover so maybe that could be a reason.
The short answer is “no”, no one that knows why your specific set of risks was turned down.
You will receive a letter with general reasons, but another commenter’s idea is probably spot on: that your income vs potential debt if you maxed out all of your other cards would impact your ability to repay.
Longer story: A credit card company’s strategy around who gets approved and for how much IS the secret sauce that makes them profitable. Accept too much risk and a downturn in the economy can bankrupt you. Accept too little and you won’t take in enough in merchant fees and interest to pay your employees let alone make a profit.
Telling you (or anyone else) anything more specific that a general reason for your turn down would leak that proprietary information to competitors and fraudsters that want to appear to be a better credit risk than they are.
