Back in the day, Discover Card was the king of the rewards credit cards, if for nothing else because it was nearly the only reward credit card. I remember how it was promoted with the tagline “The card that pays you back.”
Well, fast forward to today and Discover is far from the only player in the reward card game. Nearly every issuer has several reward cards available, and sadly for Discover most make the Discover Card programs look stingy at best. In a market where a full 1% back is becoming the standard, the tiered approach of the classic Discover card is just not competitive. You must spend $3000 in a year just to get to 1% back (the first $1500 gets you 0.25% and the next $1500 earns 0.50%). Additionally, they added additional provisions to make it more difficult to reach the full 1% tier. As stated on their website:
Warehouse purchases (those made at select warehouse clubs, discount stores and their affiliates) earn .25%. We do not include warehouse purchases or Get More program purchases (up to the dollar amount specified in each applicable program) in calculating your total annual purchases to determine your tier level.
The only redeeming feature of the Discover Classic is their Get More program, where a merchant category is selected each quarter for 5% cash back. But considering the other programs out there like the Citi AMEX Platinum, is it really worth dealing with Discover for whatever odd category they decide to include in the bonus program? Especially considering that you have to go and register on their website for each promotion?
As for their other card programs, the only one that may be interesting is the Discover Open Road card that gives 5% back on gas and auto repairs. The Discover Miles card is nothing to write home about (with all of the airline and hotel programs out there, who really needs more miles). And the Discover Motiva card that pays you back a month’s interest for making six payments in a row on time – well, if you’re paying interest on your credit card you have bigger problems than finding the right credit card reward program.
It seems like the Discover Classic card only survives because it was the first one around and people are resistant to change. So for those of you that still have and use the old Discover Classic I ask the question: why do you still use the card? Am I missing something here? Leave me a comment to let us know your reasons.
I don’t even use my Discover card anymore because the rates are too high. I have called to get it lowered but it still does not compare to the rates on my other cards.
I use my Chase Freedom Visa that offers me a slightly lower rate but the rewards are better to me because of the bonus $50 if you can wait til you get to $200.