One of the most competitive industry in the world, credit card companies are constantly trying to one up each other by offering better rates and features. The Discover It® offers $100 Statement Credit after making your first purchase within 3 months of being approved.
In addition to the $100 bonus, the card offers 15 months 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers, 5% Cashback Bonus in rotational categories, and no annual fee!
Sign up through our Discover it® Referral link and earn a $100 bonus after first purchase.
Update 6/3/24: For Q3 2024, you get 5% cash back up to $1,500 for grocery stores and Walmart. You can activate this today within your account to get your 5% spending.
Discover It Pros & Cons
- $100 Sign Up Bonus: You will receive a $100 Statement Credit after making a purchase within three months of account opening. You must apply through a referral link. Offer may not be combined with any other introductory offer. Promotional award will be applied within 8 weeks.
- Shop Discover Deals for better rewards: An added bonus for Discover cardholders is Discover Deals, which offers another opportunity to earn more cash back on online purchases. Just visit Discover.com to register (or download the Discover Mobile App) and then you access cash back bonuses at almost 200 online stores (such as Macy’s, Target, and Apple). Participating vendors have a link to their site alongside the cash back percentage they offer. Most offer 5% cash back when you buy with your Discover card, but some go as high as 20%.
- Low fees: There are very few fees associated with the Discover It card. There’s no annual fee, which can save you quite a bit of money each year compared to what you could be paying elsewhere. In addition, many of the annoying usage fees charged by other credit cards don’t apply to the Discover It: there are no overlimit fees, pay by phone fees, or foreign transaction fees.
- Late payment leniency: If you ever miss a payment on the card, Discover is quite lenient. You don’t owe a late fee on your first late payment, and Discover never increases your card APR because of late payments.
- Introductory APR: Discover It has an introductory 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months. Then, the variable purchase APR applies. This is an excellent opportunity for new cardholders to pay down existing debt. Keep in mind, there is a 3% balance transfer fee, but it’s usually much lower than the cost of letting month after month of interest build by leaving the balance on another credit card.
- Earning Limit: The 1% cash back you earn has no limit. But the 5% cash back is only for the first $1,500 worth of purchases in the bonus categories each quarter (which equals $75 in cash back), and then you go back to just 1%, just like all your other purchases.
- Discover Acceptance: Discover is not as widely accepted as Visa or MasterCard, and you may run into problems at smaller merchants. For this reason, this card is great to have to get the high cash back in bonus categories, but you would most likely need an additional card.
Discover It Card Features
- 0% intro APR on purchases & balance transfers for 15 months-then a variable purchase APR applies. A 3% fee applies to each transferred balance.
- 5% cash back in categories that change each quarter like gas, restaurants and more-up to the quarterly maximum when you sign up.* 1% cash back on all other purchases.
- No annual fee. No overlimit fee. No foreign transaction fee. No late fee on first late payment & paying late won’t raise your APR.*
- Free FICO® Credit Score on monthly statements and online.
- 100% U.S.-based customer service available any time.
- Pay your bill up to 12:00AM EST the day it’s due by phone or online.
- Freeze It® on/off switch for your account if you’ve misplaced your credit card.
- Discover It gives you the control to freeze your account to prevent new purchases, cash advances or balance transfers on your account.
- You can freeze or unfreeze within seconds with Discover’s mobile app or website.
- Free overnight shipping for card replacement to any U.S. street address at your request.
- Paying late will not raise your APR with Discover It Cashback Match card.
- Waived late fee for your first late payment.
Discover It Redeeming Cash Back
No matter which redemption method you choose, you’ll be able to get at least $1 for every $1 in cash back that you’ve earned. The gift card option actually provides more than $1 back for every $1 you’ve earned, making it the most potentially rewarding method.
You’ll have five different options for redeeming your cash back:
- As a statement credit to reduce your balance
- Directly into a bank account of your choice
- For gift cards
- As a charitable donation
- Pay with rewards at select retailers, like Amazon.com
The easiest way to redeem your cash back is with a statement credit or direct deposit. Statement credits will lower your balance, and direct deposits will simply wind up in your bank account.
Discover It Cash Back Gift Cards
Redeeming your cash back for gift cards at specific retailers is actually a good option with the Discover it. In every case you can get more than $1 for every $1 in cash back you redeem.
The offers will vary, but you will always get at least $5 added to each card for free. There are a wide variety of retailers to choose from, in many different categories. Some example offers include:
- Redeem $20 to get a $25 gift card for Brooks Brothers
- Redeem $45 to get a $50 gift card at Chili’s
- Redeem $45 to get a $50 gift card for iTunes
- Redeem $90 to get a $100 gift card at Sephora
Gift cards are available in both digital and physical form. Physical gift cards will take up to 4 weeks to arrive by mail.
Discover It Cash Back Charity
If you want to donate your rewards to a good cause, Discover provides an easy way to make a direct donation. You can send your rewards to any of the following organizations:
- ASPCA Children’s Miracle Network Make-A-Wish Foundation®
- American Cancer Society Junior Achievement Operation Homefront
- American Red Cross Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation World Wildlife Fund
Discover It Cash Back Payment
You’ll have an option to link your Discover account with certain retailers, like Amazon.com. This will let you pay for purchases through them directly with your cash back rewards.
We do not recommend this method because when you pay with rewards you won’t earn any cash back. This would be a mistake if you’re shopping at Amazon.com and could potentially earn 5% cash back. So, we suggest you always pay with your card to earn cash back, and then redeem your rewards through a different method.
Discover It Cash Back Benefits
The Discover it comes with a pretty good set of standard benefits, providing certain types of coverage when you shop and travel.
Discover It FICO® Credit Scorecard
Discover’s FICO® Credit Scorecard provides access to one of your free FICO credit scores online, along with alerts if it changes. Discover will use the FICO Score 8 from your TransUnion credit report.
Many issuers today will offer free access to one of your FICO credit scores, but if you don’t have another way to check your TransUnion score this card is a good option for that. Discover also includes quite a bit of advice and information about credit scores, breaking your score down by category and providing specific tips for improving it.
Discover It Cash at Checkout
When shopping at participating locations, you can get cash back immediately by charging an additional amount over your purchase. There is no extra fee and this will be counted as part of your purchase, rather than as a cash advance.
You can get a maximum of $120 every 24 hours in this way. But individual stores will have their own cash back limits and in some cases they will charge a fee. Some examples are below.
Although Safeway is listed as a participating merchant on Discover’s site, we were informed by Safeway that they no longer offer this cash at checkout service.
Here are some current cash back limits and fees:
| Retailer | Cash Back Limit | Fee |
| Dillons | $100 per purchase | $3 for any amount over $100 |
| Dollar General | $40 per purchase | $1.50 |
| Kroger | $100 per purchase | $3 for any amount over $100 |
| Meijer | $50 per person, per day | None |
| Sam’s Club | $100 per purchase | None |
| Walmart | $100 per purchase | None |
Discover It Refer a Friend
As a cardholder, you can earn cash back for referring friends to apply for Discover credit cards. You must send them the referral link you get from Discover, and they must use that link to apply.
If your friend is approved you will earn a $100 cash back bonus. If your friend makes his first purchase within 3 months of opening the account, he will earn a $100 cash back bonus too.
You can refer a maximum of 10 friends per year, and your account must not be late on payments or over the credit limit to qualify for this benefit.
Discover It Shopping Protections
Discover provides a shopping protection when using this card: Price Protection to reimburse you for the price difference if you find an item you bought being advertised for less
Discover It Flight Accident & Auto Rental Insurance
You and your family are automatically covered for accidental death or bodily injury while at the airport and on airline flights, up to $500,000 per claim. You must pay the entire cost of the airline tickets using your Discover card to be covered by this benefit. Coverage begins as soon as the full cost of the ticket is charged to the card.
When you rent a vehicle with your Discover card this benefit provides coverage for collision damage. You must decline the car rental company’s insurance to be eligible for this benefit.
Discover It Other Benefits
These are the most interesting benefits of the Discover it card, but this list does not cover everything it offers. There are also important account management and security benefits, like fraud protection, free social Security Number alerts, and the ability to quickly freeze your account to prevent new purchases. Read more about the benefits, and check the Guide to Benefits that comes with the card to learn what you have access to.
Discover It Cashback Info
- $100 Sign Up Bonus: You will receive a $100 Statement Credit after making a purchase within three months of account opening. You must apply through our referral link.
- Cashback Earnings:
- 5% cashback on quarterly categories
- 1% cashback on all other purchases
- Annual Fee: None
- Cashback Expiration: N/A as long as your account remains open
- Foreign Transaction Fees: None
- Balance Transfers: 0% APR Intro for 15 Months
- Cashback Redemption Minimum Limit: None, can be redeemed as little or as much as you have earned
- Balance Transfer Fee: 3% Fee for Each Balance Transfer
Credit Card Comparison
Here’s how the Discover It® stacks up against the Chase Freedom®, another highly recommended travel rewards credit card.
| Card | Discover It® | Chase Freedom® |
|---|---|---|
| Intro- Purchase APR | 0% Intro APR for 15 months | 0% Intro APR for 15 months |
| Intro- Balance Transfers APR | 0% Intro APR for 15 months | 0% Intro APR for 15 months |
| Purchase APR | Variable based on your creditworthiness and other factors | Variable based on your creditworthiness and other factors |
| Balance Transfers APR | Variable based on your creditworthiness and other factors | Variable based on your creditworthiness and other factors |
| Foreign Transaction Fee | No foreign transaction fee | 3% of each transaction in U.S. dollars |
| Annual Fee | $0 annual fee | $0 annual fee |
| Introductory Bonus | $100 bonus after 1st purchase and (new member only) double cash back at the end of intro-year | Earn a $200 bonus after spending $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening. |
| Cash Back | Earn 5% cash back in rotational categories | Earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in bonus categories each quarter you activate. Enjoy new 5% categories each quarter. Unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases. |
There are two benefits of the Chase Freedom® that can make it a more lucrative card however: a fixed signing bonus and network. Chase Freedom® cardholders can earn a $200 bonus for being new cardholders (after spending $500 in the first three months). The Chase Freedom® is part of the largest card network in the U.S. – VISA.
This means users will have less trouble paying with the Chase Freedom® over the Discover it®. Individuals who wish to make their final decision based purely on rewards value, should consult with the rewards calendar below – to maximize rewards, you will want to select the credit card which best fits your spending schedule.
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Bottom Line
If you’re looking for a solid cash-back credit card with a chance to maximize your cash back far beyond 5%, the Discover It® with its double-cash-back bonus and Discover Deals is hard to ignore. If you want that, plus a longer balance-transfer period, go for the Discover it® – 15 Month Balance Transfer Offer.
The Discover it® - Cashback Match™, like other 5% rotating category credit cards, is all about how and when you use it. The standard 1% cash back offered on the non bonus categories is average among no annual fee rewards credit cards.
The best value of this card resides in sticking to its 5% cash back calendar. As long as your purchases line up with the categories listed each quarter, you can earn 5% cash back on the first $1,500 you spend at those category retailers in each quarter. This means a potential savings up to $75 every three months.
I would highly recommend the Discover It card as it comes with on annual fee, rotating 5% categories and many benefits for being a cardholder!
If, however, you’re looking to get a bonus sooner, you want a wider variety of categories to earn bonus cash on, or you prefer a flat-rate cash-back card, there are plenty of options to choose from, review our complete list of Credit Card Bonus Promotions for more details! Remember, as with all cards, terms and limitations apply. Find all the best Discover Bank Bonuses!
Editorial Note: The editorial content on this page is not provided by any bank, credit card issuer, airline, or hotel chain, and has not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the bank, credit card issuer, airline, or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
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