Discover it Cash Back Card Review

Written by Dayana Yochim
Edited by Carolyn Kimball
Fact-checked by Andrea Coombes

August 22, 2023

That Year One incentive is 🔥. But the $1,500 quarterly spending cap is a wet blanket.

Picture the “mind blown” emoji. That’s our reaction to the Year One thank-you gift for using your Discover it card — an unlimited cashback match, dollar for dollar on all the rewards moolah you earned up to your anniversary. It almost makes up for the less-than-generous $1,500 quarterly spending cap on purchases that earn 5% cash back.

The basics: Earn 5% cash back at select places (changes quarterly), such as grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, wholesale clubs, select streaming services, Amazon.com, PayPal purchases, etc. 1% cash back on all other purchases, unlimited cashback match at the end of your first year. 0% intro APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers.

Discover it Cash Back pros and cons

Discover it Cash Back cashback rewards spending categories

The following table shows the cashback rewards rate per $1 spent in the six most common spending categories. The “Bonus Rate” refers to the amount you can earn in excess of the card’s standard rewards rate.

Some cashback cards limit the spending amount eligible for the bonus rate (a.k.a. the “Spend Cap”). Once you hit that cap (e.g. $1,500 spending in a particular category during a defined time period), the rewards rate on future purchases in that category reverts to the lower “Default Rate.”

Note: The Discover it Cash Back card is a rotating rewards credit card that pays 5% cash back on purchases that fall within certain spending categories. The 5% cashback categories change quarterly, and earnings at that bonus rate revert to 1% cash back (no limits) after you hit a $1,500 spending cap. (The table above illustrates the rewards setup if restaurants/dining is the quarterly 5% rewards category.) We’ve factored the higher rate into the calculator to show your potential earnings.

Discover it announces the 5% cashback categories one month before the start of each quarter. Examples of previous 5% cashback category mashups: jewelry stores, drug stores and select streaming services; a delightful pairing of restaurants and wholesale clubs.

What we like

The Year One matching rewards on every dollar you earn turns the 1% cashback base rate to 2%, and doubles the $300 annual max you can earn on 5% rewards categories to $600.

Unlike some tight-lipped issuers, Discover announces the 5% quarterly rewards categories one month in advance, meaning you can actually plan ahead for big purchases. (Here’s the 5% Cashback Bonus calendar.)

p.s.: 5% on a no-annual-fee rewards card is 💣.

Rewards can be redeemed at any time for any amount.

Discover makes it easy for charitable-minded cardholders to donate rewards earnings, though your benevolence is limited to select charities.

Discover makes a point to reassure applicants that it’s accepted by 99% of places in the U.S. that take credit cards, and also in 200 countries and territories. (Discover had kind of a rep in the past when it wasn’t as widely accepted.)

What we don't like

Spending caps. Why’d you have to go and ruin a good thing, Discover? Couldn’t you have at least upped the 5% rewards spending cap to $2,500 a quarter like some other cards?

And another thing (sorry, we can’t let it go): The $1,500 quarterly spending cap on the 5% bonus categories limits your cashback earnings in that category to $75 per quarter; $300 a year. At least you’ll get an additional $300 (plus matching dollars on whatever you earned at the 1% rate) at the end of Year One. Starting at year two, you’ll want to reevaluate what you’ll get out of the relationship.

Yet another thing to put on the to-do list: Remember to activate the cashback bonus (5%) each quarter by the deadline or you’ll have to settle for the so-so 1% rate.

Balance-transfer fee hike alert: The fee is being raised to 5% (from 3% previously) in 2023, which makes the 0% balance transfer APR a little less appealing.

This isn’t the card to use for extra rental car or travel insurance or extended warranty protections. Those perks aren’t offered.

The bottom line

Is the Discover it Cash Back the best rewards card for your wallet? The answer depends entirely on your spending patterns. Let the numbers speak for themselves: Use the investor.com Cashback Credit Card Calculator to see which credit card pays back the highest rewards based on how much you spend each month.

Discover it Cash Back fine print

Discover it Card Cashback Bonus program terms and conditions, suitable for framing.

Does the Discover it Cash Back charge an annual fee?

No, there is no annual fee for the Discover it Cash Back.

Does the Discover it Cash Back offer a welcome bonus?

Yes, the Discover it Cash Back has a welcome bonus of 2X Rewards your first year.

How much cash back can I earn with the Discover it Cash Back?

The average American that spends $1000 per month will earn $189.60 in cash back per year using the Discover it Cash Back. For comparison, the average annual rewards payout from the cashback credit cards in the investor.com database is $191.26, and $180 is the median.

These calculations are based on average consumer spending data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the reward payout rates from the providers we track. Of course, you’re so much more than an average data point (aka “consumer unit,” in BLS parlance). The amount you can earn in cashback rewards using the Discover it Cash Back depends entirely on your unique spending habits.

Find out exactly how much you’ll rake in with the Discover it Cash Back by tailoring the spending inputs in the calculator above.

Read next

• Best Cashback Credit Cards
• Best Business Cashback Credit Cards
• What Is Credit? (And Why It Matters)
• Best High-Yield Savings Accounts
• Find a Financial Advisor
• Our Complete Coverage of Credit Cards

Methodology

The results of the investor.com Credit Card Rewards Calculator are based on the monthly spending amounts you enter and the annual dollar value of the rewards each credit card program pays per $1 spent. Credit card companies often express this payout amount as a percentage (e.g., 1.5% of every dollar spent) or on a points basis (e.g. ,1.5 points for every dollar spent). We converted all of them to a dollar amount (“Cash Back Per Year”) to make comparing offers easier.

To calculate the amount of cash back you could earn per year, we factored in:

• Spend category inputs: The default dollar values for each “Spend Category” in the Best Cashback Credit Cards tool — gas, groceries, travel, restaurant, entertainment, pharmacy, other — are based on average American spending data from the Consumer Expenditure Surveys from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. We also include additional spend categories (such as streaming services, online shopping, utilities, transit, Amazon and more) to help you see which rewards cards are most closely aligned with your actual spending patterns. We encourage you to customize the monthly spend inputs for the most accurate results.
• Tiered rewards rates: If a rewards credit card pays higher cashback rates on certain spending categories (also called “Bonus Rewards”), that difference is reflected in the total “Cash Back Per Year” tally.
• Rewards spending caps: Some cards impose category- or time-based limits (monthly, quarterly, annually) that affect the amount of rewards you can earn. For example, a card may pay 3% cash back on groceries on up to $1,000 of spending each quarter, then revert to the base/default rewards rate until the following quarter. We accounted for bonus spending caps and timeframe in the calculations.
• Default rewards rates: Purchases that exceed a spending cap are usually subject to a lower default rewards rate (e.g., 1% or 1.5%). We mathed that out too.
• Annual fees: If a rewards card charges an annual fee, we deducted that amount from the “Cash Back Per Year” total to provide a true accounting of a card’s annual rewards payout.

What’s not included in the “Cash Back Per Year” total is the cash value of any sign-up/introductory bonus. We highlight any Welcome Bonus separately. While sign-up bonuses can be the most lucrative part of getting a new cashback rewards credit card, not everyone will want or be able to do what it takes to earn the extra cash. (It usually requires spending a certain amount in a specified time period after the card is activated.)

About the Editorial Team

Dayana Yochim

Dayana Yochim has been writing (articles, books, podcasts, stirring speeches) about personal finance and investing for more than two decades, focusing on bringing clarity and the occasional comedic aside to what is often a murky, humorless topic. She’s written for NerdWallet, The Motley Fool, HerMoney.com, Woman’s Day, Forbes, Newsweek and others, and been a guest expert on "Today," "Good Morning America," CNN, NPR and wherever they’ll hand her a mic.

Carolyn Kimball

Carolyn Kimball is Managing Editor for Reink Media Group and the lead editor for content on investor.com. Carolyn has more than 20 years of writing and editing experience at major media outlets including NerdWallet, the Los Angeles Times and the San Jose Mercury News. She specializes in coverage of personal financial products and services, wielding her editing skills to clarify complex (some might say befuddling) topics to help consumers make informed decisions about their money.

Andrea Coombes

Andrea Coombes has 20+ years of experience helping people reach their financial goals. Her personal finance articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, MarketWatch, Forbes, and other publications, and she's shared her expertise on CBS, NPR, "Marketplace," and more. She's been a financial coach and certified consumer credit counselor, and is working on becoming a Certified Financial Planner. She knows that owning pets isn't necessarily the best financial decision; her dog and two cats would argue this point.