Discover No Longer Sucks. Also, Get 50 Bucks.

Remember when the Discover Card was only accepted at 1 place in town and people were openly mocked for owning one?  The much maligned Discover Card brand has come up with something actually worth using. Traditional Discover cash-back programs paid dismally “up to 1%” which you could only achieve after somewhere around $3,000 in annual spending. Whoopie. Combined with the fact that, historically at least, the Discover card was only accepted at three-out-of-a-million businesses, this made the orange circle generally worthless. Thanks to the Discover More Card, that has changed.

The Discover More Card is THE best cash rewards credit card to use in the enhanced“5% Cash Back Bonus Program” category.  Qualifying merchant categories change each quarter. They include my “core categories” about half the time and are other times very narrow and sometimes merchant-specific.

REWARDS PROGRAM BY THE NUMBERS

• Tier I CashBack: 0.25% up to $3,000 in annual purchases (one of the WORST)
• Tier II CashBack: 1% after $3,000 in annual purchases
• Enhanced CashBack: 5% in select categories up to $1,500 in purchases each Quarter
• CashBack Multiplier: CashBack can purchase GiftCards with bonuses from $5-100
• Redemption Threshold: Varies By Type
• Statement Credit: $50
• Direct Deposit $50
• Discover Gift Card: $20
• Partner Gift Cards: $20
• Pay @ Amazon.com: $0!
• Charitable Donations, “Exclusives”, Merchandise: Varies 

“Purchases made at select warehouse clubs, discount stores, and their affiliates also earn .25%. We do not include warehouse purchases or 5% category purchases in calculating your total annual purchases.”

The limit on 5% CashBack purchases recently jumped from a dismal $300 to $1,500 in purchases per quarter due, I speculate, to similar program offerings from Chase Freedom and other banks. We will see if that increased limit continues past Q1 2012.

I call it “THE card to use for 5% category purchases" because Cashback can be used to purchase “Partner Gift Cards” to a wide variety of merchants with bonuses ranging from $0 to $100+ depending on the merchant. I saw big discounts for Celebrity Cruises, Kalamazoo Outoor, and similar companies at the $100 for $200 and $200 for $400 levels but those were few and far between. Other more useful discounts include $40 for $50 at Sam’s Club (my favorite) and similar discounts for car rentals, web merchants, department stores, etc. So essentially, in the case of Sam’s Club for instance, you are getting a 25% bonus for a total of 6.25% CashBack! With much wider acceptance (I have only found ONE place that does not take Discover since applying in November) the Discover More Card, when used properly, is the clear CashBack 5% Category winner.

There is also ShopDiscover which offers between (mostly 5) and 20% CashBack to shop though the Discover website. 1800Flowers @ 20%, Barnes & Noble @ 15%, JCPenny @ 10%, and Walgreens @ 10% (all online) are a few merchants I found. Also, did you know there is a 1800baskets.com? Who'd a thunk it?

Of irrelevant note, the program occasionally offers various “Double Cash Back” promotions that are just about as worthless as the regular CashBack program. Well…exactly half as worthless actually…. Right now it is Double CashBack, a smashing 0.5% CashBack at Amazon.com and on TV/Cable/Internet recurring utility payments. …Just use your 1% or 2% card.

OTHER CARD DETAILS

• Intro Purchase APR: 0% for 15 months
• Intro Transfer APR: 0% for 15 months (3% fee)
• Annual Fee: $0
• Usual Trimmings: Website, App, Other Basic Card Services 
• "More from Discover Card": Payment Protection, Wallet Protection, Identity Theft Protection, Credit ScoreTracker, Extended Warranty, Financial Planning Tools, DirectPay, Send Money with Money Messenger, ShopDiscover, Cash Access, Paperless Statements, Gift Cards, Secure Online Account Numbers

And also, they pay me $50 AND YOU $50 if you apply through this link. You could buy 500 pieces of SuperBubble for that. You’d still only have about thirty minutes worth of gum flavor though.

CLCIK HERE:



Click It.... You know you want to.

REMEMBER: AS ALWAYS, REWARDS PROGRAMS DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD IF YOU HAVE TO PAY INTEREST, SO DON’T CARRY A BALANCE.


Respectfully Submitted.


QUOTE OF THE POST:
That Guy: "Fry, I'm an 80s guy. Friendship to me means that for 2 bucks I'd beat you with a pool cue until you got detached retinas."