Why I Signed Up For the Discover Card: Cash Back Rewards and 5% Category Bonuses!
I recently signed up for the Discover It card after knowing about it for a while. I shop online for pretty much everything and I like to always go through an online portal to earn extra miles and points for my shopping. When I would compare sites, I started noticing that ShopDiscover portal was frequently offering among the best bonuses, but I never had access to the portal since it requires a holding one of the Discover cards. I was also missing out on the rotating quarterly bonuses earning 5% cash back on everyday expenses such as gas stations, restaurants, holiday shopping, etc.
The card has no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees either so it’s a card I can keep around for a very long time.While I am willing to pay an annual fee occasionally when the reward is worth it, I really prefer to have a card that I can hold onto for a while, especially if it means I can earn big bonuses on my spending. And that’s where the real value for this card lies: the 5% rotating category bonuses and shopping portal bonuses.
The Discover card, of course, is not a miles card. It is a cash back card. But I am interested in earning the most rewards, whether it be cash or miles. After all, cash is always king!
The card offers the following:
- 5% rotating category bonuses.
- Access to the ShopDiscover portal.
- No annual fee.
- Targeted bonus offers with opportunities for more cash back.
5% Rotating Category Bonuses
The Discover it card has rotating quarterly bonuses earning 5% cash back on everyday expenses such as gas stations, restaurants, holiday shopping, etc. Maximizing these categories earns an extra $75 a quarter or $300 a year. I can definitely use an extra $300 a year so I signed up. I do have other cards that earn me 5% cash back category bonuses, but I can always use more especially ones that have no annual fee.
Access to the ShopDiscover Portal
As someone who does lots of online shopping, the rewards add up quickly. There are many credit card portals out there that are willing to give cash back or miles for clicking through them to your merchant. 5% here, 10% there – it all adds up pretty quickly. Even when I do find something in a store, I just go online and order it (provided there is free shipping) to get those extra rewards.
Access to the ShopDiscover portal does require holding one of the Discover cards. To access the ShopDiscover portal, you just need to log into your Discover card account. You can then navigate to your merchant, click on it to visit the merchant website and shop online as usual… and see the cash back rewards add up!
Targeted Bonus Offers For More Cash Back
From time to time, I’ll see chatter of another targeted bonus the Discover card sent out and these can usually turn out to be pretty lucrative. As an example, a few months ago, they sent certain members letters offering $250 for spending $1,500 per month over a 5 month period. That would be on top of the usual 1% cash back adding up to a total of 4.3% cash back on $7500 of spending. As a current cardholder, I am hoping I’ll get one of these offers soon!
Once in a while, you will get a targeted offer for bonus cash back for achieving certain spending levels. I’m pretty sure its an enticement for low level users to ramp up their spending. I am currently in the middle of a very good promotion, $500 cash back bonus for spending $3000 for six consecutive months. With the regular 1%/5% bonuses, I will conservatively clear over $750 during the six month period. Four months down, two to go for me.
Caveat: Discover is notorious for screwing up cash back. You have to watch them, as I have caught four errors just this year (one for $50) and you have to wait another month to see if the corrections are actually made. They are made, but its just a shame you can’t expect them to process it properly.