Looking for one of the best rewards cards out there? If you’ve got good credit, the Discover it® cash rewards card can earn you an astonishing 5% bonus rate on eligible purchases that you make. What separates the Discover it® from its competition is by giving cardholders two options for signing up:

• Cash Match™: a cash-back matching offer that reimburses all of your cash back at the end of the first year of membership.
• 18 Month Balance Transfer: 18 months at 0% APR for balance transfer fees can give you time to make large purchases, interest fee.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look the Discover it® credit card and how Sift can help you take advantage of this card’s cash back earning potential.

Credit Card Perks

Rotating Rewards

The main draw for the Discover it® is its high reward rate. Cardholders get 5% cash back on quarterly rotating categories on up to $1,500 in eligible purchases each fiscal quarter, with a 1% cash back on all other purchases. Points can be redeemed at any time, or as gift cards, donations, statement credits to your account, direct deposit into any account, and as in-store payment at select retailers.

No Annual Fee

There are no annual fees with the Discover it® credit card. This makes it easier to track how much it cost to use this card without hidden fees popping up once a year.

Introductory APR and Balance Transfers

The Discover it® credit card comes with a 14-month introductory APR of 0%, which includes both purchases and balance transfers. After 14 months, the ongoing APR reverts to 13.24% – 24.24% variable APR.

If you’ve chosen to go for the 18-month sign-up offer, you extend your payment responsibilities for a year-and-a-half. That’s a long time to finance purchases that might be out of your reach for the time being.

Sign-up Bonus: Cashback Match™

If you’ve chosen the Cashback Match™ sign-up bonus when signing up for the Discover it® card, you can automatically receive a dollar-for-dollar match of all the cash back you’ve earned at the end of your first year. This credit card perk can have you potentially seeing 10% cash back for eligible purchases up to $1,500 (or $600/year); for ineligible purchases or transactions over the $1,500 quota, the rate is 2%, which has no cap to how much you can earn.

Discover Deals

Looking to get your rewards online and in-person at retailers? Discover Deals offers cardholders an extra 5% to 25% cash back at more than 200 online retailers, including offers on restaurants and dining, clothing, garden supplies, and travel packages. As an added bonus, Discover’s double cash-back bonus counts towards Discover Deals purchases, making it easier to rack up cash rewards as high as 50% wherever you choose to shop.

Click here for more info on Discover Deals.

No Foreign Transaction Fees

If you like to travel, the Discover it® makes it easy to earn rewards without getting charged foreign transaction fees for purchases you make outside the U.S.

Credit Card Drawbacks

The Discover it® offers great rewards, but there are a few drawbacks that applicants should be aware of:

Merchant Acceptance

While the Discover it® credit card can earn you cash back rewards, it’s important to note that the Discover brand isn’t accepted everywhere. Discover typically charges a high fee for retailers to process their transactions, which can be off-putting to small businesses. Additionally, acceptance outside of US can be an issue. Currently, France, Ireland, Australia, Ukraine, India and most countries in Africa don’t take Discover. If you’re traveling abroad, you may have to use another card.

Enrollment required

To be eligible for the 5% rewards program, Discover it® cardholders have to register each quarter. This can be an added task that may be easily forgotten, which may have some users missing out on savings that they thought were automatic.

Cashback Match™ Delays

To earn your double cash-back with the Cashback Match™ program, you must wait a year for the bonus to be in your account. Some consumers might not want to wait a year to get a bonus—even if that bonus is significant. With other rewards credit cards, like the Chase Freedom® card, you can start seeing your rewards in 3 months after spending $500.

Rotating Categories Limits Spending Habits

The Discover it® Cashback Match™ may fit some budgets, but it might not necessarily fit your spending habits. For instance, if you fill up your gas tank with this credit card, you would be out of luck from July – September. Unless you like juggling card and can keep track of where you can or cannot use the Discover it® card, you may want to look for another rewards program  (i.e. flat-rate rewards).

However, there is a solution to this draw back. By using Sift, you can automatically track which purchases are eligible, how much you have to earn the 5% rate before it reverts to a 1% rewards rate, and so forth.

If you’re looking for more info (terms, conditions, rates, fees, etc.) about the Discover it® Card, click here.

Rotating Rewards Overview

To stay on top of which purchases are eligible for 5% cash back using the Discover it® credit card, here is a by-quarter list of rotating bonus categories.

To earn your rewards, remember that you must register your card online (click here) or by phone at 1-800-DISCOVER each quarter.

For more info on the Discover’s rotating rewards, click here for a FAQ.

Credit Card Benefits

The Discover it® Card has a number of credit card benefits. These include:

• Extended warranty
• Return protection
• Fraud protection
• Zero liability protection
• Theft and damage protection
• Price protection
• Car rental loss and damage insurance
• Accident insurance

While these benefits are great for cardholders, they can be hard to keep track of or hidden to customers. That’s where using Sift can really come in handy. Sift user can take advantage of their benefits, track and manage these benefits, and automatically file claims to get the cash back they deserve—no need to decipher jargon or mark your calendar.

Want to know more? Click here to see how Sift can help your credit card put cash back in your wallet!

For more specific information about the Discover it® Card, click here.