Discover It® Cash Back Credit Card

I’ve carried the Discover card for longer than I can remember. Originally called the Discover More Card, it’s now known as the Discover It® Cash Back Credit Card. It’s one of my favorite cash back credit cards.

Historically, Discover is known for two things: (1) excellent cash back rewards, and (2) excellent 0% APR introductory rate offers on balance transfers. And based on my review, it doesn’t disappoint in either category.

Discover also offers cardholders free access to their FICO credit score. First, let’s look at the cash back rewards.

Discover It® Cash Back Credit Card Rewards

The cash back rewards are similar to Discover’s previous cards, with a couple of exceptions.

First, the familiar 5% cash back on categories of purchases that change throughout the year is a feature of the card. These categories change each quarter. The five percent is capped at $1,500 in purchases each quarter. Thus, its potential value is $75 every three months.

Second, the Discover It® Cash Back Credit Card pays 1% on all other purchases. Back in the day, Discover paid just 0.25% until you spent $3,000 on the card. That limitation is now gone. You earn 1% on all purchases right from the start.

Third, Discover doubles the cash back you earn at the end of the first year. Earn $1,000 in cash back the first year, for example, and Discover will match it. We’ll come back to this feature in a minute.

Finally, you have many options on how to redeem your cash back rewards. You can, of course, use the rewards as a statement credit (which is what I do) or get a direct deposit of the cash back directly to your bank account. But you can also use your rewards to get gift cards.

What’s the Value of the Cash Rewards

How much you can earn depends entirely on how much you spend. To give you an idea, however, we’ve taken spending data for an average family from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Spending Category	Spending Amount	Cash Back %	Cash Back Rewards
Groceries	$5,703	1%	$57.03
Restaurants	$3,639	1%	$36.39
Gas	$3,120	1%	$31.20
Other Transportation Expenses	$845	1%	$8.45
U.S. Department Stores	$1,945	1%	$19.45
Entertainment	$3,458	1%	$34.58
Health Care	$5,850	1%	$58.50
Other Expenses	$1,009	1%	$10.09

So far we’ve earned $255.69 in cash back. Now we also assumed that these purchases will also earn the 5% rotating category bonus each quarter. That adds an additional 4% cash back (on top of the 1% reflected in the table), on a total of $6,000 in purchases ($1,500 each quarter). That adds another $240 in cash back, bringing our total to $495.69.

But we aren’t done. For the first year only, Discover matches our cash back. The match brings our grand total in year one to $991.38. Not bad for a no-annual-fee credit card.

Discover It® Cash Back Credit Card 0% Intro APR

The Discover It® Cash Back Credit Card offers 0% intro APR for 15 months on balance transfers and for 15 months on purchases. Then, a variable apr of 17.24% to 28.24%. There is a balance transfer fee of: Intro fee of 3% of the amount of each transfer for transfers that post to your account by August 10, 2024 with the 0% intro APR balance transfer offer. After that, 5% of the amount of each transfer.

Free FICO® Score Offer

Discover is the first major credit card issuer to offer free access to FICO® scores. Each month cardholders will see their FICO® score on their monthly credit card statement. The score will be based on data from TransUnion.

Other Features

Beyond cash back and the no-interest features of the card, Discover It® Cash Back Credit Card also offers some lessor-known features. The card particularly shines in the area of fees.

• No annual fee
• No late fee for your first late payment, then up to $41
• No foreign transaction fee
• 100% U.S.-based customer service available at any time
• Paying late won’t increase your APR
• Pay your bill by midnight (ET) the day it’s due by phone or online
• Choose your payment due date online or by phone
• Automatic expedited delivery of your new card

It’s perhaps for the above reasons that Discover has been ranked #1 in customer loyalty, according to the 2024 Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index Report.

Discover Spend Analyzer

The Discover mobile app offers what it calls the Spend Analyzer. This feature looks at the charges to your card over the past one, three, six, 12, or 24 months and analyzes your spending by category. With a click of the mouse, you can drill down into any spending category to understand exactly where your money is going.

Summary

As with anything, there are always some features that could be better. In the case of Discover It® Cash Back Credit Card there’s not much room for improvement. Discover could offer more elevated rewards but beyond that, the card is competitive in every respect.

All-in-all the Discover It® Cash Back Credit Card is an excellent option. I’ve carried a Discover card for a long time and have been very happy with it. The website is extremely easy to use, redeeming cash back rewards is a snap, and Discover gives you a ton of options when it comes to paying your bill.

Below we recap the features, fees, credit score requirements, and alternatives.