The skinny on Discover's cash back program
Written: Nov 21 '05
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Customer Service: |
 |
|
| Web Site Experience: |
|
|
|
Pros: Good service, well-structured web site
Cons: Low reward, not used by all merchants, two-cycle average daily balance method for interest charges
The Bottom Line: If you don't charge much it's ok but if you charge a lot per year then there are MUCH better programs out there.
|
|
|
| okactuary's Full Review: Discover Card |
I must say Discover does not do a good job at disclosing how paltry their cash back program is for people who charge a lot on their credit cards.
I just charged a whole lot of stuff for my company expenses on my credit card last week and was expecting a fairly decent cash reward. However it was only about .5% and I was expecting over 1%. Well, I got out my small print handbook and read that the cash back program is 1% for the first $1500 then .5% for the next $1500 then .25% after that. And, if you charge stuff like I do at Wal-mart, then you get .25% and what happens is those charges do NOT push back the $1500 and $3000 cut offs. In other words, if you used your Discover Card to charge $1500 of stuff at Wal-Mart before using it anywhere else, you would never get 1%!
Now I have read on several web sites that it is the opposite; that Discover's cash back percentage increases the more you spend, so I have to assume it has changed. I just know what my information handbook says.
Anyway, I just got a Blue Cash Card from American Express and that will be much better. If I charge $20,000 a year on my credit card (not hard if you use credit for just about everything), my cash back should be about 4 times what it would be with Discover. That's because their cash back increases the more you spend. They are more up front as to how their program works. And they have reason not to be ashamed. If you put a lot on a credit card and want a cash reward, this seems like a good way to go.
One more thing. It would be nice if you could set up automatic payments to pay the "New Balance" amount from the most recent billing statement automatically. Of course they would not want to do that as it minimizes their late fees and interest payments.
Recommended:
No
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
okactuary
|
|
Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.