Discover More Card: $40 Bonus, 0% APR for 12 months, Limited 5% Cashback
The Discover More Card has been on my list of top 0% APR offers for a while now, but I haven’t really written much about it as it’s always been around #3 or #4. But a reader just pointed out to me that it is now offering a $40 bonus if you spend $500 within the first 3 months, so I decided to take a second look. As it turns out, if you take full advantage of all its features it can be one of the more profitable cards now.
0% APR for 12 months for both purchases and balance transfers
Of course, the 0% APR on balance transfers for 12 months can be great for making free money, and this feature can be worth hundreds of dollars depending on credit limit. But there is a pesky balance transfer fee of up to $75. However, the $40 bonus counteracts part of that (and you can actually make the required purchases at the same time as having balance transfers since both are at 0%). So now we’re down to about a $35 deficit.
5% Cashback Bonus “Get More” Program
As an overall cashback rewards card, this card is actually subpar. You need to reach total annual purchases of $3,000 just to get to the standard 1% cashback tier… yawn. What you have to do is take specific advantage of is the 5% cashback on certain broad categories that change each quarter - like travel, home improvement, gas, and restaurants. Here are the categories they had this year:
So right now, I would put all my usual Restaurant charges on this card (and only restaurant charges if I can get to $500). If the next quarter is Travel, then I would put all airfare charges on the card. If you manage to just spend $700 in these areas over the course of an entire year, you’d get $35 back and essentially make back your balance transfer fee completely. Anything over that and you’ll actually be ahead of the other 0% APR cards available right now! There is no annual fee, so even after the 0% period is over you can keep this card around for the 5% back in specific areas.
Finally, you can either redeem your rewards for straight cash, or you can “double your reward” by redeeming it for gift cards from selected partners. For example instead of $20 cash you could get a $40 gift card for Romano?s Macaroni Grill. The stores aren’t the best (no Target or Home Depot), but that’s probably why they can be so generous. I still like cash, myself.
There is also the Discover More Sealife Collection Card, which has the exact same features thing but you can get a clownfish or turtle on your card. 
Find more in Credit Cards, Deals & Offers | 10/8/07, 4:18am | Trackback
October 8th, 2007 at 4:31 am
I miss the Discover Restaurant card.
October 8th, 2007 at 6:32 am
Good to know, glad I put off applying for this card
October 8th, 2007 at 7:16 am
I love this card! we use it year round, right now we have 40.00 waiting for us to redeem. We actually make money off Discover and we pay our bill off every month, they never make money off us! I love their yearly spending summary… last year it shows we charged $8,357! and my balance is 0.00 right now!! time to up all my eating out on this card!!
October 8th, 2007 at 7:42 am
I don’t like Discover card because they change the reward catagory each quarter. I don’t have time and energy to play such complicated game… I like Citi cards better because they offer “simple” reward programs.
October 8th, 2007 at 8:02 am
I agree with bela. I think that changing reward categories each quarter is lame. If I want to get rewards for buying gas three times a month (36 times a year!) I want it to be rewarded year-round, not just between July and September. Same with restaurants, buses & trains, and airfare — why be limited to a particular quarter? Ridiculous idea for a rewards card IMO.
October 8th, 2007 at 8:30 am
note that there is often a cap on the 5% bonus categories (for example, I think only the first $400 restaurant/movie purchases in Oct-Dec qualify for 5% back)
October 8th, 2007 at 8:39 am
Heathrow: The problem with using Discover 100% is that the standard reward rates are very low. I used it several years ago but then the rates dropped and I ‘discovered’ the Citibank family of rewards cards. They provide much better returns and the same summary info on some cards–such as the Professional card. It pays 3% on restaurants and gas year round. I put groceries on another card and travel on a miles card, then opportunistically take advantage of 5% offers wherever they arise (such as the Discover More card).
My credit card rewards/cash for this year is around $500-$600 with $0 paid out for interest. A big chunk of that has gone for Shell gas gift cards at Citi, so I don’t end up buying junk I don’t need.
October 8th, 2007 at 9:27 am
Ditto w/ disliking the shell game.
You have to reeeeeeeeally wanna work for those specific rewards.
Back in the day (mid 90’s) when my wife and I were first married, we had the Discover “Private Issue” card which used to be a flat 2% on EVERYTHING YOU BOUGHT! (That was HUGE in the 90’s)
Also, Discover’s (Novus) “Saver’s” account was one of the highest yielding MM accounts at the time. We used to LOVE this setup.
Nowadays………..Discover is trying to play catch up w/ all these different cards & deals.
I went from 3 Discover cards down to 2. (Gas card I use regularly, PLatinum, I just shelf these days.)
October 8th, 2007 at 10:54 am
We use the Amazon.com affinity card. We charge about 3k per month, pay it off on time, and get loads of free music as well as many other items sold through Amazon.com.
October 8th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Those categories are based off the merchant’s SIC or MCC, which is their Merchant Category Code. It’s a 4 digit number that every merchant out there has assigned to their merchant account. Depending how their program works, not all restaurants may be eligible.
For example Moe’s and Sonny’s BBQ are 5814, while Friday’s, Chili’s and such are 5812.
The primary difference being 5814 is specifically referred to as QSR or Quick Serve Restaurant. While 5812 is a traditional restaurant.
I’ve seen reward programs treat those two differently, I would hope Discover does not.
Sorry for being heavy on the technicals.
October 8th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Take the $40 gift card and sell it online for $30!
October 8th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
beware that the discover’s 5% cashback has a max limit of purchase. Usually it’s $400. Therefore it’s 5% x 400 = $20 max.
October 8th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
and I found out about those max limit of purchase in a hard way. Last month I charged $5600 for Hotel reservation (for my organization’s outing) with the hope of getting $280 back. But I ended up only getting less than $60
October 9th, 2007 at 1:16 am
Where do they list these caps? I don’t see them anywhere.
October 9th, 2007 at 11:00 am
here:
http://www.discovercard.com/di.....2007.shtml
October 9th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
Jonathan,
Sign in, click on learn more about the get more, yields the following which limits 5% up to $400 in purchases:
You’re signed up to get 5% Cashback Bonus on up to $400 in purchases on:
Restaurants
From fast food to fine dining
Movies
From movie tickets to movie rentals
October 9th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Jonathan- If you mouse over the “Learn More” button on the screen where you got the above graphic, it says “…on up to $400…”. These limits are getting worse each quarter, to the point where you have to play it perfect to get $80/yr. Also, be careful with some of the gift cards. I had a Staples one come as a paper certificate with a quick expiration date. Worth it if you already have the card, but I don’t know that I would sign up for it without this signon bonus and/or arbitrage.
October 9th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
that’s a great deal on that card… I hope it lasts a little while.
I’m waiting to receive my check from my 1st 0% deal and then I’ll probably do this one.
October 10th, 2007 at 8:35 am
Last year the July-September Get More program was “back to school” themed: College bookstores, Staples, and Dell. I paid my tuition and Bought my books with my card, and the GF bought a dell to eBay.
October 11th, 2007 at 9:25 am
Yah, that $400 cap on the purchases, not on rewards, is bogus. However, if you are like me and already have the discover card, it isn’t that bad. Like the crazor pointed out above: “5% x 400 = $20 max”.
5% is 5% even if it is on $400 worth….it’s better than 1-2% elsewhere.
October 11th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
FWIW, I’d recommend having one or more credit cards that offer good cash back rewards consistently in the same category or categories, and supplementing those cards with the Discover More card. For example, Pentagon Federal Credit Union offers a Visa Platinum Gas Cash Rewards card with 5% for gas and 1.25% for everything else, and there’s no cap on the rewards. The rewards are credited monthly, I believe. Also there are some business credit cards that also offer good cash rewards programs. If you’ve ever sold anything on ebay, done some consulting, mowed lawns, you can apply as a sole proprietor.
October 15th, 2007 at 6:03 am
I’m just wondering about the real costs of this card. I want to keep in mind that all credit cards have to come into a profit for the issuer at the end. So pay a lot of attention…
Thanks!
Pierluigi Rotundo
October 17th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
PAY OFF your $500 in PURCHASES BEFORE TRANSFERRING A BALANCE! The 0% on purchases ends before the 0% on transfers, so you’ll either pay interest on your purchases or have to pay off the transfer early if you make any purchases once a transfer is done. (Guess to which 0% balance your minimum payments will be applied?)
I was caught by this, but consoled myself with the opening bonus. The quarterly 5% category shuffle annoys me too, but at least Discover’s service reps are outstanding.
Paul