The Discover It card is an excellent cash back card that pays 5% on select categories. As part of the “sign up bonus” it doubles your cash back in the first year to a total of 10%. To give you an example of how this works - the category for the current quarter is gas stations, Uber, and Lyft. Every time you make a purchase with your Discover It card on one of these categories, you get 10% of that deposited into your account. Basically, all of your gas and ride sharing is at a 10% discount this quarter.
The Breakdown
Signup Bonus Double cash back for the first year
Valuation 1st year – $0.10 per $1 on select categories
Subsequent years – $0.05 per $1
1st year - $0.02 per $1 on all other categories for the first year
Subsequent years - $0.01 per $1
Annual Fee None
Perks No foreign transaction fees
No late fee on first late payment
Competing Cards
Amex Blue Cash Everyday
Chase Freedom
Chase Freedom Unlimited
Citi Double Cash
Bank of America Cash Rewards
Capital One SavorOne
Uber Visa Card
Reward Categories
As of 2019, the reward categories are listed in the picture below. For new cardholders, the current categories for 10% cash back are gas stations, Lyft, and Uber.
Maximizing Cash Back
If you can’t quite maximize the $1,500 per quarter, I recommend buying gift cards and then redeeming those gift cards at a later date. For example, the current 5% category for 2019 are gas stations. I typically don’t spend $1500 in a quarter for gas. If I only spend $1,000, for the remaining $500, I would buy Amazon gift cards at the gas station. These gift card purchases count towards your spending category, and you would effectively be getting 10% off from all of your Amazon purchases.
Final Comments
It’s possible to apply and get accepted to a new Discover It card every year, which will enable you to get 10% cash back as opposed to 5%.