Discover it Cash Back Card Review
Why trust us? Investor.com has no financial relationship with any of the credit card providers whose products we analyze and review. Our opinions are based solely on data and our own extensive independent research — that means unbiased guidance for consumers. Rewards cards in our cashback credit card calculator are listed in descending order according to how much money they pay out annually based on the inputs.
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
Discover it Cash Back pros and cons
Pros
- 5% cash back on quarterly rotating spending categories
- Dollar-for-dollar match on all earned rewards at the end of your first year
- No annual fee
- 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months
- Free Social Security number alerts
- Accepted lots of places. Really!
- No foreign transaction fee
Cons
- The rotating thing requires, well, thought
- $1,500 quarterly spending cap on 5% bonus category
- 1% cash back on everything else is something, at least
- Requires reward category activation
- No extra protections like rental/travel insurance
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.”
Category | Default Rate | Bonus Rate | Bonus Spend Cap | Bonus Spend Period (Months) |
Gas | 1.00% | - | - | - |
Travel | 1.00% | - | - | - |
Dining | 1.00% | 5.00% | $1,500 | 3 |
Entertainment | 1.00% | - | - | - |
Pharmacy | 1.00% | - | - | - |
Groceries | 1.00% | - | - | - |
Other Purchases | 1.00% | - | - | - |
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 đź’Ł.
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.
Trivia time!
Roughly 14% of the consumer cashback cards we track in our database charge an annual fee. The average annual fee is $72.60, while the median is $95.
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.
Fun fact
Of the more than 60 cashback credit cards in our database, 66% offer a welcome bonus. Currently, the average sign-up bonus on a new cashback card is $210.71, with the median being $200.
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.
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.)
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