rewards
Card Comparison: Discover Miles Rewards Credit Cards
This post compares Discover cards that reward miles for everyday purchases. Both cards have their pros and cons, for your convenience to find them, I highlighted the relative benefits in green, and drawbacks in red.
Requirements: Excellent Credit, No Annual Fee; Regular APR: 29.99%.
Intro Benefits: Earn 1,000 bonus miles each calendar month you make a purchase for a total of 12,000 bonus miles your first year. 0% on Purchases and Balance transfer for first 6 months.
Regular Benefits: Double Miles on up to $3,000 in travel and restaurant purchases each year. 1 mile for every $1 on all your other purchases
Requirements: Excellent Credit, $60 Annual Fee; Regular APR: 11.99 – 18.99%.
Intro Benefits: Cardholders will receive 1,000 bonus miles every month they make a purchase during the first 25 months of opening an account. 0% on Purchases and Balance transfer for first 6 months.
Regular Benefits: 2 miles for every $1 on all your purchases. Earn two additional miles for every dollar you spend through the ShopDiscover online shopping site.
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: 5% Cash Back on Home Improvement with Discover Card’s Rewards Program
Discover Card’s just rolled out a new cashback bonus program: 5% cash back for home improvement purchases made between now and June 30, 2009.
The purchases that qualifies for 5% rewards are (buying new clothes is also improving your home, that’s a new concept):
- Home improvement Stores
- Department Stores
- Clothing Stores
The up limit of the cash back rewards is $20, which means you get 5% cash back rewards only in the first $400 purchase in the above categories, the rest of purchases may be subject to a lower cash back ratio, most likely 1%.
Here is the card that can earn the 5% cash back on Home Improvement:
| Card Name | Benefits | Requirements | |
 |
Discover® More Card |
0% BT APR for 12 mths; 0% purch APR for 6 mths; 1% – 5% cash rewards | requires Excellent Credit; regular APR: 10.99%; annual fee: none |
Important Disclaimer: the credit cards information in this post were accurate as of the date of publishing, some or all of the card programs may be discontinued, their terms may be changed after wards.
Card Comparison: Business Credit Cards – November 2008
In this post, I compare business credit cards which represent a fast growing segment in credit card industry, the reason for fast growth is its popularity. As I pointed out in the q&a, individuals without a business are eligible to apply for a business credit cards, so you don’t need to worry about your eligibility, it’s ok for you to consider them the same as consumer credit cards. The way I compare business credit cards is to break all cards down to major categories of benefits:
Point Rewards Cards
| Card Name | Requirements | Benefits | |
 |
Advanta Why Wait Business World MasterCard |
requires Excellent/Good Credit, Regular APR: 16.99%, Annual Fee: None | Reward: 1 – 1.5 Point/$, Sign-on Bonus: up to 200,000 WhyWaitSM Rewards Points |
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: 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.
