Discover it Card
No annual fee
Double cashback for the first year.
Signup Bonus Chart5% Rotating Categories
1% Everything Else
No Foreign Transaction Fee
The "Discover it" card is one of the two main "rotating category" reward cards. Instead of getting bonus rewards on a fixed set of categories, the categories change every three months. You may want to get the card to take advantage of its extremely high reward rates on these categories (10% during the first year, and 5% thereafter). But it takes some effort to maximize your value from the card.
If you are only interested in getting a single rotating category card, the Chase Freedom card provides more valuable rewards, once you stop earning the Discover card's first year bonus (when coupled with a Sapphire or Ink Preferred card). But you might be blocked from getting that card by Chase's 5/24 rule.
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Discover it Card Options
There are three different versions of the Discover it card.
- Regular version. Discover Webpage.
- Student version. This is identical to the regular version, but has an approval process targeted to students. Discover Webpage.
- NHL version. This has the same features of the regular version, plus you get your choice of NHL Team card designs and a 10% discount at NHL.com and NHL.TV. Discover Webpage.
Collecting the Signup Bonus
- In lieu of a signup bonus, the Discover Card doubles your rewards for the entire first year you have the card. At the end of the year, you'll receive a credit equal to the normal rewards you earned (including those from non-bonus spending). In effect, that gives you the equivalent of a whopping 10% cashback on the bonus categories, during your initial year.
- You can also receive $75, if you apply through Amazon and make an Amazon purchase. Another option is a $50 statement credit offer, available through referral links.
Notable Benefits
None.
Rotating Bonus Categories
Rather than offering bonus rewards on a fixed set of categories (like Groceries and Gas), the Discover it Card's categories change every quarter. Earn 5-10% in Rewards with Rotating Category Cards
- Discover publishes a calendar, about a year ahead of time, so that you can plan ahead. For example, during the first quarter of 2018, Discover offered bonus rewards on Gas and Wholesale clubs.
- You'll need to register your card every quarter to receive the bonus rewards. To maximize your rewards, you can try to shift the timing of any purchases so that it falls into the reward window.
- Rewards are capped to the first $1,500 in bonus category each quarter, which works out to a maximum total of $600 in rewards during the first year and $300 in following years. It is often hard to hit each quarter's maximum limit with only your natural spending in the current bonus categories. But you can frequently purchase gift cards at qualifying merchants and use them at other merchants or at other times. For example, if Discover is offering bonus rewards on grocery stores, you can earn 5 or 10% on your supermarket gift card purchases and then use the gift cards for purchases at a restaurant, BestBuy, a clothing store, etc.
- This card is not for everyone. After the first year, the total amount of rewards you can earn is capped at $300 per year. But that doesn't count the rewards you would have earned by using a different card. At a minimum, you could have earned $120 on this $6,000 of spending, just by using a 2% cash back card. As a result, the extra rewards are only worth $180 or less each year. But some quarters, you'll have another card that earns bonus rewards on the rotating categories, further dropping the value of the extra rewards. For example, the Discover category in the 3rd quarter of 2018 is Restaurants. Several other cards already earn more than 5% rewards in that category, so you might not earn any extra rewards from the Discover card that quarter.
To earn extra rewards with the Discover card, you need to deal with an extra credit card, remember to use it for a changing set of bonus categories, register for the new categories every quarter, make an effort to maximize your spending each quarter, and make sure you don't spend more than the quarterly cap (when your reward drops to only 1%).