Discover It Review
The Discover It is a great card with a $100 signup bonus for those willing to keep track of its rotating rewards categories.
Highlights:
- $100 bonus after making a purchase in the first 3 months
- Unlimited cashback match at the end of your first year
- 5% cash back in quarterly bonus categories
- 1% on all other purchases
- No annual fee
If you’re already sold, feel free to use my promo code for quick access to the $100 signup bonus offer and support my writing in the process!
Note you’ll need Good to Excellent credit to have the best odds of approval which is a 670–850 credit score.
If not, read on as I break down the solid value of the Discover It.
Benefits
Similarly, to Freedom Flex, Discover It is especially handy for organized credit card users that are looking to optimize their spending and squeeze out more rewards from their credit.
The key draw of the It is the rotating categories that swap every quarter including everything from amazon.com to grocery stores, all returning 5% in pure statement credit.
Statement credits may not have the appeal of points, but there’s a beauty in the simplicity of knowing exactly how much you’re getting back. It’s a straight discount on your purchases and will help reduce your monthly bill.
2022 categories have covered grocery stores, Target, gas stations, restaurants, PayPal, Amazon.com, and more.
However, the cashback only applies on spending up to $1,500 in total combined purchases each quarter for a total of $75 in credits each quarter.
Discover also makes you “activate” the category before you start earning every quarter though the process is very straightforward.
Beyond the 5% rotating categories, Discover It returns 1% cash back which isn’t particularly too valuable.
My personal favorite is to pair this card with the Chase Flex which is another rotating category rewards card with 5% cashback to maximize the periods in which you have 5% coverage on a category.
Value
So is the card worth getting?
Well, with no annual fee and upper-tier cashback (5%), there’s not much downside to acquiring the Discover It!
The standard hard inquiry and the opportunity cost of getting another card do apply but are not unique to Discover It. It’s likely optimal to get an everyday card before getting a rotating category card like the It though.
We’ve also noted that the signup bonus is worth $100 which provides some immediate upfront value and is among the easiest signup bonuses to earn.
Earning the bonus is as simple as making a single purchase, whereas many other cards require between $500–4,000 in spend.
It’s quite difficult to estimate the value of the 5% back on rotating categories given that it’s highly dependent on an individual’s ability to stay on top of it, but it’s possible to get $75 back a quarter or $300 a year if we maximize it.
Pro tips: set a reminder to check when the category changes and tape a little label to the card on what the category this quarter is.
Beyond, all this Discover provides a cashback match at the end of the first year of opening this card, which juices the 5% cashback up to a whopping 10% cashback.
There are not many other cards that can provide this much bang for your buck.
Recapping
- Baseline signup bonus of $100
- Up to $300 of cashback a year by maximizing the quarterly categories
- If categories are maximized, at least another $300 in matched cash back at the end of the first year
If we’re able to maximize all the possible benefits there’s ~$700 of value!
Assuming we don’t put any non-category spend on this card since we’d prefer to put that instead on a card rewarding more than 1%.
Even if we don’t maximize, there’s still a baseline signup bonus of $100 and ~$100/yr in cashback based on personal experience (which is doubled with the first-year cashback match).
Verdict
Given that the main benefit of Discover It is the rotating categories, this card may not be for the less organized.
However, for those who are willing to do the work to stay on top of the rotating categories, the 5% cashback may be well worth it.
And best of all, it has no annual fee!
If I’ve convinced you of Discover It’s value, consider signing up using my referral code for quick access to the $100 signup bonus points offer.
Note you’ll need Good to Excellent credit to have the best odds of approval which is a 670–850 credit score.
For resources on better understanding and improving your credit score, check this out.
