gas

Card Comparison: Discover Reward Credit Cards

In the previous post, I listed a couple of gas rewards credit cards and ranked them based on rewards generosity. At top of that list, you find Discover Open Road Credit Card. In fact, Discover offers two types of Open Road credit cards: one for consumer, the other for students. This article will dive deeper into the details of what these cards offer to customers by some Q and A.

There is a rumor that Discover Student Cards all offer 5% gas reward, unfortunately, it’s wrong, only Discover Student Open Road card does that. There is another rumor that only Discover Open Road for Student card offers 5% gas reward, fortunately, this is wrong again, since both Discover Open Road cards offer 5% gas reward. There is even better news, just as its name implies, Open Road card series not only reward 5% for gas purchases, but also reward the same percentage for auto repairs. This is extremely useful since many people didn’t notice, but it’s true that auto repair accounts the highest among their annual expense categories, usually gas ranks the second. Therefore Discover Open Road series card do offer great benefit for average consumers.

Here is a more detailed comparison of various Discover rewards credit cards including both Open Road cards:

  Card Name Rewards Rates
The Discover® Open RoadSM Card for Students
5% cash back on gas and auto services ($100 gas spending limit per month), requires Good Credit Regular: 14.99%,
Intro Purch: 0% for 6 mths, Intro BT: None
Discover Open Road Card for Consumers
5% cash back on gas and auto services ($100 gas spending limit per month), requires Excellent Credit Regular: 10.99% – 18.99%, Intro Purch: 0% for 6 mths, Intro BT: 0% for 12 mths
Discover® Student Card
5% Cashback Bonus on category purchases, requires Good Credit
Regular: 14.99%, Intro Purch: 0% for 6 mths, Intro BT: None

Important Disclaimer: the credit cards information in this post were accurate as of the date of publishing, some or all of the card programs may be discontinued, their terms may be changed after wards.

Card Comparison: Gas Rewards Credit Cards – July 2008

Crude oil price dramatically dropped on July 15th, national average gasoline price dropped favorably below $4. Don’t forget the reason for this drop is the perception of sharply decreased demand from developed world, especially US, for gasoline, which means as price goes down, the demand could go up easily, and hence this drop will not last long.

So what are news with gas credit cards? American Express dropped their cash rewards rate for SimplyCash card from 5% to 3%, and therefore the card slipped down from our top pick; as a result, our top two cards are: Discover Open Road for Student Card and TrueEarnings Business Card from American Express, both rewards 5% cash back for gas purchases, there are some limitations to these two cards: Discover has $100 monthly gas purchase limit, so you can’t spend more than $5 on gas rewards per month (Some people might ask what’s the difference between Discover Student Card and Discover Open Road card, this topic will be discussed in future posts.); TrueEarnings card is a business card, but you can apply even if you do not own a business, since you can apply as a “Sole Proprietorship”, what’s more, to apply for the card, you need to have Costco membership. For Costco members, American Express card is a good choice, since it doesn’t have gas purchase limits similar to Discover card does.

In the next tier of 3% cash rewards cards, Chase Freedom stands out with no annual fee, 15 categories of spending that are qualified for 3% rewards including gas purchase.

For Consumers…

  Card Name Reward on each $1 spent on gas Regular APR
Chase FreedomSM Credit Card
3% cash back 14.99%
TrueEarnings® Card from Costco and American Express
3% cash back (requires Costco membership) 15.99%
Capital One® No Hassle MilesSM Rewards For Travel & Gas
3 miles 13.99%
Capital One® No Hassle PointsSM Rewards
5 points ($29 annual fee) 16.99%
The Chase® PerfectCardTM (Gas Rebate Credit Card)
3% cash back (6% for first 90 days) 10.99%
BP Visa® Rewards Card
5% cash back on BP purchases (10% for the first 60 days) 11.99%
Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® MasterCard
2% cash back (5% for first 6 months) 10.99%
Capital One® No Hassle PointsSM Rewards
2 points 16.90%
Citi® Diamond Preferred® Rewards Card
1 point (5 points for first 12 months) 10.49%
Citi® Professional(SM) Card with ThankYou(SM) Network
3 ThankYou Points 10.99%
Discover® Open Road Card
5% cash back ($100 gas spending limit per month) 10.99%

For Students…

  Card Name Reward on each $1 spent on gas Regular APR
The Discover® Open RoadSM Card for Students
5% cash back ($100 gas spending limit per month) 16.99%
Citi® Driver’s Edge® Card for College Students
3% cash back 14.99%
Discover® Student Card
5% cash back 16.99%

For Businesses…

  Card Name Reward on each $1 spent on gas Regular APR
TrueEarnings® Business Card from Costco and American Express
5% cash back (requires Costco membership) 15.99%
Chase Business Rebate Visa® Card
3% cash back 10.99%
American Express SimplyCash® Business Credit Card
3% cash back 5.25%
Discover® Business Card
2% cash back 13.99%
Discover® Business Miles Card
2 miles 13.99%

Important Disclaimer: the credit cards information in this post were accurate as of the date of publishing, some or all of the card programs may be discontinued, their terms may be changed after wards.

Card Comparison: Gas Rewards Credit Cards – June 2008

Gas price has reached a historical high $4 for the first time today as oil price skyrocketed $11 in one day to $139 historically. This is a phenomenal development as this is going to change a lot of Americans’ behavior.

Here is list of awesome credit cards that reward gas purchases. I have broken out the list into three parts for consumers, students, and businesses respectively. These credit cards reward at least two units of rewards for each $1 gas purchases, a unit could be one percentage of cash, one mile, or one point.

A few notes that worth attention when you choose are: Discover Open Road Cards (for student or for consumer) have $100 gas spending limit per month while American Express SimplyCash Card doesn’t set gas spending limit. Despite its 5 points per dollar gas reward, Capital One® No Hassle PointsSM Rewards card charges $29 annual fee to card members.

For Consumers…

Card Name Reward on each $1 spent on gas Regular APR
Capital One® No Hassle PointsSM Rewards
5 points ($29 annual fee) 16.99%
Chase FreedomSM Credit Card
3% cash back 14.99%
Capital One® No Hassle MilesSM Rewards For Travel & Gas
3 miles 13.99%
Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® MasterCard
2% cash back (5% for first 6 months) 10.99%
The Chase® PerfectCardTM (Gas Rebate Credit Card)
3% cash back (6% for first 90 days) 10.99%
BP Visa® Rewards Card
5% cash back on BP purchases 11.99%
Citi® Diamond Preferred® Rewards Card
1 point (5 points for first 12 months) 10.49%
Capital One® No Hassle PointsSM Rewards
2 points 16.90%
TrueEarnings® Card from Costco and American Express
3% cash back 15.99%
Citi® Professional(SM) Card with ThankYou(SM) Network
3 ThankYou Points 10.99%
Discover® Open Road Card
5% cash back ($100 gas spending limit per month) 10.99%

For Students…

Card Name Reward on each $1 spent on gas Regular APR
The Discover® Open RoadSM Card for Students
5% cash back ($100 gas spending limit per month) 16.99%
Citi® Driver’s Edge® Card for College Students
3% cash back 14.99%
Discover® Student Card

5% cash back 16.99%

For Businesses…

Card Name Reward on each $1 spent on gas Regular APR
Chase Business Rebate Visa® Card
3% cash back 10.99%
Discover® Business Card

2% cash back 13.99%
American Express SimplyCash® Business Credit Card
5% cash back 5.25%
Discover® Business Miles Card
2 miles 13.99%
TrueEarnings® Business Card from Costco and American Express
5% cash back 15.99%

Important Disclaimer: the credit cards information in this post were accurate as of the date of publishing, some or all of the card programs may be discontinued, their terms may be changed after wards.

Poll: Best Credit Card that Reward Cash for Gas Purchases

As gas price skyrockets, one way to tackle this problem is to get a gas rebate credit card in your pocket. Here I compare the best gas rebate credit cards from major banks. Discover Open Road card and American Express SimplyCash Business card both offer a 5% cash back reward on gas purchases, but Discover Open Road card sets $100 per month, $1200 per year limit on gas purchases that are eligible to 5% reward, so we pick SimplyCash card as the top choice since it remains the only card that offers 5% reward for unlimited gas purchases. Although it’s a business card, individuals could apply for it as a sole proprietor.

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Important Disclaimer: the credit cards information in this post were accurate as of the date of publishing, some or all of the card programs may be discontinued, their terms may be changed after wards.