Discover sent me something saying "As a Preferred Cardmember with our esteemed "5.0 Superior" rating, you could pay off $15,000 in high interest loans with the special Discover(R) Personal Loan program."
1. Does this mean that Discover thinks that I owe "$15,000 in high interest loans"? I did not know about this debt. Should I check my credit report to see who is reporting that I owe this much? Or does Discover just mean that, if I had that much in high interest loans, then I would be able to pay off the debt, not that I actually do owe that much?
2. What does "5.0 Superior" mean? What is the formula to convert a Discover rating into a FICO score?
It only means that they think $15,000 will get your attention. 5.0 means absolutely nothing. It's just a marketing gimmick. They send the exact same mail to thousands of cardholders every week, just trying to sell high interest loans.
Only after you apply do they check your real credit rating and deciede how much they can lend you and what rate they will charge.
Unless you get a bill, then no you don't owe that lol.
In today's economy, it seems that everyone is in debt, so it would appear that discover is trying to use that as a marketing ploy, so people who have high interest loans can get a lower interest loan to play off the higher loan with.
I have no Idea what 5.0 Superior means. what I do know is they put that in there to make it sound more impressive.
I have a answer your first question:
NO, YOU DON'T OWE THEM $15,000 dollars. If you had a $15k debt then you could enter the personal loan program to clear your debt but pay high interest rate.
Pros: Clearing all your debt you owe. +
Con's: owing Discover $15,000 + high interest. -
I don't have an answer to your second question- Sorry