Discover More Changing to Discover It

Disclaimer - The Discover offers are no longer valid.

The Discover More Credit Card is changing over to the Discover it™ credit card.  The Discover it™ still isn't on the top of my list, I thought it was a great card before the changes and the changes are only for the good!


The only change I care about is that every purchase that doesn't get 5% cashback will now get 1% cashback, just like the Chase Freedom and Citi Dividend.  It used to be 0.25% for the first $3,000 and then it would be 1% after $3,000.  Now it is always 1%!

Another change is that your first late payment won't change your APR or occur any interest.  I have never paid a late fee for a credit card so this doesn't affect me.  If you are chronically late with credit cards, you shouldn't be using them at all.  That's my mussar for the day.


I had the old Discover More and I called up this morning to change over my card to the Discover it™ and the person on the phone said that the new card still only got 0.25% on the first $3,000.  I gently told them they were misinformed and they should check with a superviser to confirm and 5 minutes later they were back to tell me that in fact since December it is 1% with no minimums.  This is an important lesson, don't believe what a rep tells you, find out for yourself, or check my blog of course ;)


Here is what I think about the Discover It card:



Advantages

1. 5% cashback rotating categories in categories that you actually spend money in.  
1. 5% cashback is really 6.25% and 1% is really 1.25%! Once you accumulate $20 of rewards, you can redeem that for a $25 gift card in many stores.  
1. Examples are Bed Bath and Beyond (I use it for refills on my Soda Stream), Banana Republic, Old Navy, Gap, The Children's Place, Brooks Brothers, DSW, Eddie Bauer, Lands End, LL Bean, Motherhood Maternity and many more.
2. Extra cashback when you shop through Discover's shopping portal.  
1. Before you buy anything online you should always check ebates or your credit card's shopping portal to see if you will get extra cashback.  I have found that Discover is consistently better than every other credit card for cashback online.  
3. No foreign transaction fees
1. If you use the Discover Card in a foreign country you will not be charged an extra fee.  Most cards do charge you.
1. Credit cards without foreign transaction fees

Disadvantages

1. Not as widely accepted as Visa and Mastercard, but it is accepted in most places, more so than American Express