The Discovering it Balance Transfer card is a contender in the cashback arena. Each purchase earns you 1% cash back with no purchase limit. Furthermore, you can earn 5% on purchases within rotating categories. To tap into that 5%, you must sign up each quarter. You’re capped at $1,500 per quarter for 5% cash back, but you still earn 1% on purchases totaling above that. At the end of your first 12 months, Discover will match your cash back rewards. Options for redeeming your rewards include Amazon.com purchases, donations, direct deposits, and gift cards. You can redeem in any amount, starting with a 1-cent credit to your account.
Card perks include no annual fee or foreign transaction fees. The purchase intro APR is 0% for six months, and the balance transfer intro is 0% for 18 Months. After the intro period has ended, your APR will be 13.49% – 24.49% Variable based on your creditworthiness and the Prime Rate. The APR applies to purchases as well as balance transfers. Balance transfers will incur a 3% or 5% transaction fee; see terms and conditions for additional details.
Your first late payment has no penalty fee. After that, it’s up to $39 but carries no penalty APR with it.
Discover offers FICO® credit scores free on monthly statements, mobile and online. You can track recent scores and monitor your credit on the go.
You also always reach live customer service each time you call. Discover features 100% U.S.-based customer service.
Smart Features
No annual fee – You don’t have to budget for an annual fee with this card.
No foreign transaction fee – Take this card with you as you travel without any fear of transaction fees.
0% intro APR – The intro APR for purchases will be 0% for 6 Months and for balance transfers 0% for 18 Months of having the card.
Cashback Match
You receive a 100% match for the rewards you earn in the first 12 months.
5% cash back bonus – Earn 5% cash back on rotating categories of purchases or select merchants up to $1,500 a quarter. All other purchases receive 1% cash back.
Redemption options – You use the points you earn as an electronic deposit to your bank account, gift cards (starting at $20), charitable donations, and Amazon.com purchases.
Who It Benefits?
The Discover it® Balance Transfer card is ideal for a committed credit card user. While no annual fee is a great perk, the real draw of this card is the potential cashback earnings. At 5%, it ranks higher than many other cards, but it’s not without some effort on the consumer’s part. You must activate the bonus reward categories each quarter. It’s not a hassle for those who find themselves logging in to check accounts frequently. However, if you like everything to be on a low-effort auto-draft, you may find it hard to remember to opt into the bonus categories each quarter.
For the consumer who is committed to earning rewards, the first-year cashback match is a great benefit. There’s no limit to that bonus, and you stand to earn a good amount if you maximize the purchase categories throughout the year. Each quarter features a category or preferred merchant for purchases that earn you 5% cash back, up to $1,500 each quarter. With Amazon.com, restaurants, and home improvement as a few of the categories, you’ll rotate genres every few months.
If you use your car mostly for gas, travel, or dining out, you may not find this card a perfect fit. Because the categories change each quarter, you could miss out on earning that 5% of your purchases don’t fit the quarter’s category.
As with any credit card, you’ll want to do the math and look at your purchase history to see if this card makes sense for you.
How It Works
The Discover it® Balance Transfer card is a rewards card where you stand to earn cashback up to 5% on certain categories. Each purchase earns you a baseline of 1%. You earn 5% on select purchases if you sign up for the rotating categories each quarter. You must log on to your account every three months to manually sign up for the bonus categories each quarter. A sample year is gas stations, ground transportation, and wholesale clubs for January through March and home improvement stores and wholesale clubs for April through June. July through September bonus category is restaurants (including fast food), and October through December have Amazon.com (perfect for the holiday shopping season!). The categories aren’t fixed and are subject to change each year.
Additionally, you earn 5% back on purchases only up to $1,500. This means the maximum you can earn each quarter using 5% cash back each quarter is $75. You’ll still earn 1% for every purchase outside the categories, as well as if you exceed the $1,500 5% cash back limit.
Discover also offers a cash back match for this card. At the end of your first year of owning the card, you receive a 100% cash back match. This means if you earned $150 in rewards, Discover would double it to $300. This offer is only for the first year of using the card but is a great benefit.
Options for point redemption include gift cards, direct deposits, Amazon purchases, and charitable donations.
This card features no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees. The purchase APR starts at 0% for the first six months. After that, the APR will be 13.49% – 24.49% Variable based on your creditworthiness. The balance transfer APR is 0% for 18 months and then 13.49% to 24.49% based on your creditworthiness. Cash advance APR is 26.49% Variable and comes with either a $10 or 5% fee, whichever is greater. Keep in mind that APR is variable based on the Prime Rate.
One of the best advantages of this card is its complexity. Not only do you have to sign up for the bonus cash back categories each quarter, but you must also remember them as you make purchase choices. The 5% cash back sounds great in theory but might not be a good fit for your spending habits. If you don’t use the offered categories in the correct quarters, you may just end up earning the baseline 1%. And if that’s the case, there are all-purpose cards out there that will earn you 1.5% or so for every purchase.
If you use your card for travel, dining out, and gas, you could earn more with a card that always rewards those categories — not just certain months.
Additionally, discover cards are not as widely accepted as Visa or Mastercard. While more and more merchants accept Discover and American Express, there are still some places domestic and abroad that only accept Visa or Mastercard.
Rewards
The Discover it® Balance Transfer card comes with 5% cash back in rotating categories up to $1,500 a quarter. After the threshold is met, all purchases receive 1% cash back.
Additionally, Discover will match your cash back rewards after the first 12 months.
Balance Transfers
Balance transfers come with 0% intro APR for the first 18 months.
APR for Balance Transfers
0% intro APR for the first 18 months that your account is open. After 18 months, your APR will be 13.49% – 24.49% Variable, based on your creditworthiness. The APR will vary with the market based on the Prime Rate.
APR for Cash Advances
26.49% Variable and will vary with the market based on the Prime Rate.
Penalty APR and When It Applies
None
How to Avoid Paying Interest on Purchases
Your due date is at least 25 days after the close of each billing cycle.
Discover will not charge you interest on purchases if you pay your entire balance by the due date each month. You will be charged interest on balance transfers and cash advances on the transaction date.
Transaction Fees
Balance Transfer See terms and conditions of the application for intro and ongoing balance transfer fee information*
Cash Advance $10 or 5% of the amount of each cash advance, whichever is greater
Foreign Purchase Transaction None
Penalty Fees
Redeem Any Amount at Any Time
No need to wait until you have $100 of cashback in your account before you can redeem your rewards, as some other cards require.
Discover allows you to redeem any amount you want, any time you want.
Cash – You can elect to have your cash back deposited into your bank account or applied as a statement credit.
Amazon – When checking out on Amazon.com, you can pay with your Discover rewards.
Gift Cards – Use your rewards to purchase gift cards and receive $5 free added. Gift cards start at $20.
Charity – Use your rewards to donate to charity.
An Easy Credit Card Solution for Your Business
Focus on running your small business and forget about complicated earning/redemption rules on your business credit card.
The Discover It Business Card earns 1.5% on every purchase, and it adds extra cash to your bottom line with the CashBack Match™ on your first card anniversary.
Cash-Back Credit Cards for Students
Lots of people begin using credit when they’re a student. Discover ensures student credit card selections include bonus category cashback earnings, CashBack Match™ at your first card anniversary, and incentives for good grades.
Here are the earnings you can expect for Discover® Student credit cards:
Discover It Cash Back for Students – 5% cashback on quarterly rotating categories
Discover It Chrome for Students – 2% cashback at restaurants and gas stations
Discover’s student credit cards share the same additional benefits:
1% cashback on all other purchases
Cash-back Match™ at the first card anniversary
$20 statement credit each year student GPA is 3.0 or higher (up to 5 years)
Redeem any amount, any time
0% APR on purchases for six months
Free account alerts, zero fraud liability, and the ability to freeze the account.
NHL Discover Card logos
NHL fans can select the logo of their favorite team on the NHL Discover It credit card.
A Cash-Back Credit Card for the NHL Fan
As a former die-hard Detroit Red Wings hockey fan, I may have jumped at having the NHL Discover It card
5% cashback on quarterly bonus categories
1% cashback on all other purchases
Cashback Match™ at the first card anniversary
10% discount at NHL.com and NHL.TV subscription
Redeem any amount/any time
Free account alerts, zero fraud liability, and the ability to freeze the account.
You might get the card for the logo, but you’ll keep it for its first year of earning power.
Qualify for a Discover Card with Less Than Perfect Credit
If you have bad credit or no credit history, you won’t qualify for most credit cards.
Secured credit cards like the Discover It Secured Credit Card can be a viable solution for building a credit history or re-building one that is less than perfect.
Finding a secured credit card is not difficult but finding one that earns cashback rewards is rare. Here’s what you can expect from the Discover It Secured Credit Card: