Payment Protection

What events are covered by Payment Protection?

Discover Payment Protection covers both hardship and celebration life events. Depending on your Payment Protection enrollment, your benefit coverage and feature set may vary. For more information about your specific product enrollment, please call Payment Protection Customer Service at 1-877-883-1959 or see your Payment Protection Terms & Conditions available after logging into your account on Discover.com

Hardship events covered by Discover Payment Protection include:

• Involuntary unemployment
• Disability
• Leave of Absence
• Hospitalization
• Death of a Child, Spouse or Domestic Partner
• Federal or State Disaster

Discover Payment Protection may also cancel up to $25,000 of the account balance in the event of the Primary or Joint Cardmember's death. (Please note; debt cancellation is not offered or available to residents of AK, IA, NV, MT, OR, RI, TN, WA, WI, PR, GU, VI, or any other state or territory where it is regulated as insurance.)

Celebration events covered by Discover Payment Protection include:

• Marriage
• Childbirth
• Adoption
• New Job
• Promotion
• Retirement
• Moving
• Graduation

The following events are not covered under Discover Payment Protection:

• Divorce
• General Financial Hardship

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How long can I put payments on hold?

Discover Payment Protection, depending on your enrollment agreement, allows you to put your payments on hold for a period of up to two years for a hardship benefit. If activating a celebratory benefit, you may put your payments on hold for one month.

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How much does Payment Protection cost and how do I pay for it?

Depending on your Payment Protection enrollment, the monthly fee for Discover Payment Protection is your total balance at the end of each monthly billing period, multiplied by $.89 per $100 of your ending statement balance. To make it easy and convenient for you, Discover Payment Protection fees are added to your monthly Discover card account statement. If you do not have a balance at the end of your monthly billing cycle, a Discover Payment Protection fee will not appear on your statement. For details, please refer to your Payment Protection Terms & Conditions available of the product in which you are enrolled.

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How do I activate my Payment Protection benefits; is there a fee?

Activating Payment Protection benefits is simple, and there is no fee to activate a benefit for a qualifying Hardship or Celebration Event. To activate benefits, please call 1-877-883-1959 and a Payment Protection Specialist will assist you.

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How often can I activate my Payment Protection benefits?

If you are experiencing a qualifying Hardship Event, you can activate your Discover Payment Protection benefits at any time by calling 1-877-883-1959. You may activate a qualifying Celebration Event at any time, up to two times per year and there must be at least one billing period between activation requests.

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Is there a waiting period to activate Payment Protection Benefits after I enroll?

Depending on your Discover Payment Protection enrollment, there is no waiting period on any of the benefits. For disability and unemployment benefits, your event must last at least 15 consecutive days before you can activate a benefit. For details, please refer to your Payment Protection Terms & Conditions available of the product in which you are enrolled.

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Can I use my card while I am receiving my Payment Protection benefits?

While you're receiving benefits for a Celebration Event, you may continue to use your card according to the terms in your Cardmember Agreement. Depending on your Discover Payment Protection enrollment, you may not be able to use your card while receiving benefits for hardship events or you may be able to request to use up to $1,500 of your available credit line to make purchases, provided that your account is in good standing. For details, please refer to your Payment Protection Terms & Conditions available of the product in which you are enrolled.

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Who is covered under my enrollment In Payment Protection?

Your Discover Payment Protection benefits are available to you when you, your spouse, domestic partner, any authorized user on your account, or the highest wage earner in your household experience a qualifying event.

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I have more than one Discover card account; does Payment Protection protect all of my Discover card accounts?

No. To protect all of your Discover card accounts, you must enroll each account in Discover Payment Protection separately.

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What happens to my Discover card payment after my Discover Payment Protection benefit period ends?

When your Discover Payment Protection deferment period ends, you will be responsible for resuming regular payment of your minimum monthly payment and your account will incur finance charges and fees as incurred before activating the benefit.

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I am currently unemployed; can I enroll in Payment Protection and activate the Unemployment Benefit after I complete the enrollment process?

No. To activate benefits, qualifying Hardship and Celebration events must occur after enrollment in Discover Payment Protection. However, other members of your household may qualify your account for the benefit after you enroll.  For example, if your spouse, domestic partner, authorized user, or the highest wage earner in your home loses his/her job after enrolling in Discover Payment Protection, your account may qualify for benefits.

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How do I cancel my Payment Protection enrollment?

You can cancel your enrollment in Discover Payment Protection at any time by calling 1-877-883-1959.

If I was previously enrolled in Payment Protection and cancelled my enrollment, how can I reinstate my enrollment?
If you would like to reinstate your enrollment in Discover Payment Protection, simply click this link to re-enroll or call
1-877-883-1959. Please note that if you experience a qualifying event, the event must take place after you re-enroll in Discover Payment Protection to activate benefits.

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