Credit Card and Student Loan Securitization Activities (Tables)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2020

Variable Interest Entities Disclosure [Abstract]

Schedule of Restricted Credit Card Securitized Assets [Text Block]

The carrying values of these restricted assets, which are presented on the Company's condensed consolidated statements of financial condition as relating to securitization activities, are shown in the following table (dollars in millions):
	June 30, 2020			December 31, 2019
Restricted cash	$	19		$	28
Investors' interests held by third-party investors	12,450			14,100
Investors' interests held by wholly-owned subsidiaries of Discover Bank	4,184			4,796
Seller's interest	11,018			12,652
Loan receivables(1)	27,652			31,548
Allowance for credit losses allocated to securitized loan receivables(1)(2)	(1,972		)	(1,179		)
Net loan receivables	25,680			30,369
Other	5			5
Carrying value of assets of consolidated variable interest entities	$	25,704		$	30,402

(1) The Company maintains its allowance for credit losses at an amount sufficient to absorb expected losses inherent in all loan receivables, which includes all loan receivables in the trusts. Therefore, credit risk associated with the transferred receivables is fully reflected on the Company's balance sheet in accordance with GAAP.

(2)

Prior to adoption of ASU No. 2016-13 on January 1, 2020, credit losses were estimated using the incurred loss approach.

Schedule of Restricted Student Loan Securitized Assets [Text Block]

The carrying values of these restricted assets, which are presented on the Company's condensed consolidated statements of financial condition as relating to securitization activities, are shown in the following table (dollars in millions):
	June 30, 2020		December 31, 2019
Restricted cash	$	10	$	12
Student loan receivables	274		292
Carrying value of assets of consolidated variable interest entities	$	284	$	304