My personal advice - don't get a Discover card. You never know what's going to happen and if you fall on hard times - they will RIP YOU OFF and make it look like your fault.
When my husband lost his job in 2001 I had to use my Discover Card to survive. My credit card payments got behind. I would get behind months-accruing hundreds of dollars in interest and late fees then catch back up as best I could making payments as high as $300. I'm sure anyone reading this can relate. Finally, in 2004 I set up auto payments (that I couldn't really afford but wanted to get rid of this albatross). I paid $78/month. It was only a $3000 debt. I did not use the card - and rarely opened the statements as the payments showed up on my bank records. Discover eventually stopped the auto payments and charged off my card. That was not my decision - it was theirs.
In good faith I set up auto payments while $10/hour (bringing home about $250 per week after taxes and health ins.) was our main household income. I have probably paid my original debt many times over - and maybe more in interest and late fees. I cannot honestly make that statement until I receive the amortization schedule I have been requesting from Discover for what will be a year in April.
During the time I was making auto payments, Discover would change my due date and they were charging me late payments. OK, my fault I didn't look at the statement -but I didn't really think I had to since I made these dangerous "auto" arrangements. Anyway, I didn't find out about the late payments until my (12 yr old) car finally took it's last breath and and I had to finance a new (used) car.
They turned my account over to Weltman, Weinberg & Reis. They began garnishing my wages at the rate of 25% in November. I lost my house (along with $100k of equity) in November. My husband still unemployed (after 2 other permanent lay-offs from short lived jobs in the interim). I am still accruing hundreds of dollars of interest on a new balance of $4900. After seven requests for amortization, Weltman, Weinberg & Reis finally send me a list of the monies they took from my paycheck. Hello. This is a law firm. Don't they know what an amortization schedule of my Discover card is? Not only do they not send it - they do not even acknowledge receipt of my letters.
Now, I live in an apartment and have a car payment, along with utilities and basic living costs, like food. One payment or another has to suffer for Discover. I have been on disability for 8 weeks only now returning to work. I've been paying disability insurance for 6 years (can no longer afford health ins.) and Met Life won't pay me. (Three more thousand dollars of debt to my son in 8 weeks). That's another story. I am in danger of losing my roof and my car. While Discover will be rolling in their huge portion of my check along with government bail out money - it will take me forever, if ever, to catch back up.
It makes me furious to see these same credit card companies getting my tax money. How dare they bail out these blood-suckers. If the Government gave us middle class the money to pay off only the amount of our credit card debts, it's likely we would be putting billions of dollars that are going to interest and late payments into the economy and house payments, and it would probably be cheaper. I am obviously no economy expert, but considering my personal experience - it's ridiculous logic and from where I am sitting, not only an insult, but the BIGGEST RIP OFF of all.
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