Discover It Review: The Best Cash Back Credit Card

With bonus cash back, low-interest rate and no annual fee, Discover It is a good card for everyday use and maximizing your cashback earnings. The card does not come with any fancy perks but it offers a lot of cashback opportunities. You will earn a standard 1% cashback on everything, but also have rotating categories that will allow you to earn 5% cashback.

At A Glance:

• No Annual Fee
• Double Cash Back in the First Year
• 1% Cash Back on Everything
• 5% Cash Back on Rotating Categories (more below)
• 0% Intro APR for 14 Months & Balance Transfers
• No Foreign Transaction Fees
• Late Payment Leniency
• Free FICO Credit Score
• Free Identity Theft Alert Service

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Card Benefits

The Discover It card is very straightforward and doesn't have any complicated terms. With the exception of the rotating Bonus Cash Back Categories, the card has some really easy to understand benefits.

1% Cash Back: No matter where you shop with the Discover It card you will earn 1% cashback. There is no limit on how much you can earn so it's a great way to make money on large purchases.

5% Cash Back Bonus: On top of the standard 1% cashback, you can earn 5% cashback on "bonus categories" which change every quarter (i.e. 3 months. I will cover these in more detail later.

Easy Redemption: The Discover It card allows its members to redeem their cash back rewards anytime. There is no minimum and you can use your cash back in a myriad of ways. You can simply apply the cash back to your credit statement or have it deposited into your account. You can also exchange your cashback for gift cards or use it directly when shopping on Amazon.

Low Fees: The Discover It card charges almost no fees. There are no annual fees, over-limit fees, pay by phone fees or foreign transition fees. There is a maximum of $40 for late payments but these can also be waved. There are fees associated with balance transfers but that will only apply to a few people.

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 for 14 months (after that, an 11.99% - 22.99% Variable APR, depending on your creditworthiness).

First Year Cash Back Match: As a promotional offer for new cardmembers, Discover will match all the cashback you've earned at the end of your first year. This is an amazing deal to take advantage of if you're planning on some large purchases in the near future.

Free FICO Credit Score: The card will provide you with a monthly summary of your credit score. This is good for anyone trying to build their credit. While there are plenty of free credit score services it is nice to have this bundled.

Free Identity Theft Protection: Discover will monitor your credit report and the dark web to ensure that no one is trying to open an account using your identity. If any new credit cards, mortgages, car loans, or other accounts have been opened in your name you'll be notified.

Rotating Bonus Categories Summary

Every three months the Discover It card will offer 5% cashback on a specific category. While these categories are subject to change anytime they have remained mostly unchanged for the past couple of years.

• January - March: Grocery Stores & Wholesale Clubs
• April - June: Gas Stations, Uber & Lyft
• July - September: Restaurants (includes Fast Food)
• October - December: Amazon.com

As you can see some of them are for specific businesses (e.g. Amazon) while others are for larger categories (e.g. Restaurants). Discover uses the merchant category code (MCC) to determine if the place you shop at qualifies.

However, the catch is you will only earn 5% cashback on the first $1500 spent at these merchants. After that, you will earn the standard 1% cash back. So you can earn an extra $75 each quarter on top of whatever you already earn. This isn't a huge amount of money but 5% cashback is much higher than what you regularly earn.

How To Maximize Cash Back

Even if you just use your Discover It credit card regularly you will earn a decent amount of cashback, but you can do a few things to maximize your cashback earnings.

Use Sign-up Bonus: If you apply using a promotional link you can earn an extra $50 just for signing up. You will receive the same card as everyone else but you'll also some extra money.

Use First Year Match: The Discover It card will match all the cashback you earn the first year. This is a great opportunity to make a large purchase when you first open the card.

Use Bonus Categories: The rotating 5% cashback categories are not something you should ignore. If you earn the maximum of $75 each quarter you will make an extra $300 every year.

Pro Tip: You can buy gift cards to reach the $1500 limit within those 3 months and then use the gift cards over the rest of the year.

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