How I Got My Discover Card Approved in 60 Seconds!
Today, we’re presenting a guest post from Manshu from One Mint, a personal finance blog that covers a wide range of topics like gold ETFs, bank interest rates, gift cards, and other stuff that affects your money. If you liked this post, please consider subscribing to his feed.
I recently applied for a Discover credit card, and was intrigued by their promise of giving a response within 60 seconds. Their tagline says – “Apply in minutes. Get a response within 60 seconds.”, and I was not disappointed. I think I really did get a response within 60 seconds (it felt quick, but I didn’t time it).
The process is really seamless and simple, but I think they can provide a little more information to make it clearer. The application process confused me at least a couple of times: once it was because of what they said, and the second time because of what I expected.
Let me explain. I applied online and the first thing you do when you apply online is provide standard personal information, your address, SSN, contact details etc. — and then click “Submit Application”.
At this point you receive an email from Discover card telling you that your application has been received, and at the same time, — the webpage where you made the application is still loading, telling you to wait for a decision.
Most people would be happy to wait for an answer, but, being an email addict, I quickly scanned through the email from Discover, and was a bit surprised to see that it said: “Please allow up to 30 days for your application to be processed.”
Actually I was half expecting that this email contained my approval or rejection, so I was a bit disappointed to see it mention 30 days there. And I still can’t figure out why it had a link for me to become Discover’s fan on Facebook?
Anyhow, by the time I scanned through the email, my application was processed by Discover, and I saw a page that told me that I had been approved, and I expected another email with credit limits, when the card would reach etc.
This time I got no email, and to me this was a bit confusing too. I think they should send an email after approval to tell you that you have been approved, and what you should expect next. I had half a mind to call the toll free number and ask them what happens next, but I decided I will wait a few days. I think they can cut down on this confusion and a few phone calls to their call centers — by sending an approval email along with steps on what to expect next.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the 60 seconds idea is great, and overall the process is quite smooth too, but communication is important, and in this case, the email they send is more or less useless, and the email they should send never get sent!
I did receive another email a couple of days later, which told me the card was on its way, but I came to know about my credit limit only when the credit card actually came in the mail.
I think they can make a good process, — a great process by communicating more, and letting people know what to expect, when to expect, and how to go about registering to their website etc.
