Discover Credit Cards

The Discover calendar shows what purchases qualify for Discover’s 5% cash back bonus rewards categories. Four Discover cards offer 5% cash back on the first $1,500 spent per quarter in categories that rotate. The cards are Discover it Cash Back, Discover it Balance Transfer, Discover it Student Cash Back and NHL Discover it.

The 2019 Discover cashback calendar is grocery stores in Q1, gas stations and ride-sharing services in Q2, restaurants in Q3, and Amazon.com in Q4. For comparison, the 2018 Discover rewards calendar started with gas stations and wholesale clubs in Q1, then had grocery stores in Q2, restaurants in Q3, and Amazon and wholesale clubs in Q4 to finish the year.

For the Discover 5% calendar to do you any good, you must activate new bonus categories by the end of each quarter. You will only receive cash back at the 5% rate from the date you activated through the last day of the quarter. To activate a category, click the blue “Activate Now” link on the calendar.

Here is the Discover calendar:

• October – December 2018: Amazon.com & Wholesale Clubs
• January – March 2019: Grocery stores
• April – June 2019: Gas stations, Uber and Lyft
• July – September 2019: Restaurants
• October – December 2019: Amazon.com

There are exceptions to the categories listed on the Discover calendar. For example, the grocery stores category excludes purchases made at “convenience stores, gas stations, warehouse clubs, discount stores, and supercenters.” Walmart and Target also are not eligible. And for gas station purchases, “supermarkets or supercenters” may not qualify. Each category has a bit of fine print. So be sure to read it.

There are two types of Discover cashback bonuses. The first is Discover’s first year Cashback Match, which all “Discover it” credit cards currently offer. As you might be able to guess, Discover will match all the rewards you earn the first year your account is open. So if you rack up $500 in rewards during the first 12 months, for example, Discover will tack on another $500 as an anniversary present. The other type of Discover cashback bonus is a 5% bonus rate that a few “it” cards offer on the first $1,500 that you spend in designated purchase categories every three months. So you can earn as much as $75 in bonus Discover cashback each quarter – $300 per year – from one of the cards offering this deal: the regular Discover it, NHL Discover it and Discover it for Students. All other purchases earn just 1% cash back.

Although the Discover cashback bonus is pretty simple, you need to “activate” it every quarter to get that 5% rate. You can easily do so by logging into your Discover account from their cashback bonus page. You can activate the new categories on the first day of the quarter, and I’d definitely recommend doing it at soon as possible so you don’t miss out on any savings.

Here’s the Discover cashback bonus calendar:

• January – March 2019: Grocery Stores
• April – June 2019: Gas Stations, Uber, and Lyft
• July – September 2019: Restaurants
• October – December 2019: Amazon.com

So you can see up to a year ahead what categories are offered. If you don’t yet have one of the eligible credit cards, this should make the decision for whether to get one easier. If you don’t think you’ll spend much at these places, I’d suggest getting a Discover it card with a flat cashback rate instead, like Discover it Chrome. And no matter which Discover it card you get, they all come with Cashback Match, so you can look forward to those doubled rewards during your first year.

There are quite a few Discover Card 0% balance transfer deals, actually. Every Discover credit card offer has a reduced intro APR for balance transfers, and about half of them charge no interest at all for a period of time. But not every Discover card offering 0% balance transfers is equal, despite all the available options requiring good credit for approval and charging a 3% balance transfer fee. The Discover it – 18 Month Balance Transfer Offer stands a head above the rest in terms of 0% intro period length.

Here are the Discover Card 0% balance transfer deals:

• Discover it – 18 Month Balance Transfer Offer: As the name suggests, you get a 0% APR for 18 months. This is definitely the best Discover balance transfer option. You also get some great rewards with rotating 5% cash back categories.
• Discover it – Cashback Match: The regular Discover it card comes in only 4 months shorter at a 14-month 0% rate. It also gives rotating 5% rewards.
• NHL Discover it: This card is exactly the same as Cashback Match, except it has additional savings on NHL merchandise. It also has 0% for 14 months.
• Discover it Chrome: Chrome has 14 months of 0% APR too, but its rewards are a bit different. Instead of rotating categories, you’ll get a static 2% on your first $1,000 to restaurants and gas stations per quarter.

All of these cards have a few things in common: no annual fee, a good-credit approval requirement and the standard Discover Card 3% balance transfer fee. The fee gets added to what you owe, and you won’t pay any interest on it or the rest of the balance until the intro period ends. But you’ll still need to make on-time minimum monthly payments regardless. So if you want to have the longest amount of time to pay off your balance transfer, go for Discover it – 18 Month Balance Transfer Offer.

The Discover foreign transaction fee is 0%, or $0, on all cards. That means any Discover credit card you apply for now will have no foreign transaction fee, and you won’t be charged extra for making purchases that are processed internationally. Discover’s foreign fees went away in 2011, when Discover joined Capital One as the only major credit card issuers to remove foreign fees from all of their offers.

The only Discover cards with foreign transaction fees are discontinued offers issued prior to 2011. They charge 2%. You can’t get them anymore, but some people still have them.

Here are the Discover card foreign transaction fees:
                        

                                                            
So if you’re in the market for a new credit card, any Discover card you get will have no foreign transaction fees. But keep in mind that Discover has far less international acceptance than Visa or Mastercard. So you could run into places abroad where you can’t use your Discover card anyway – France, for example.

Assuming Discover is accepted where you’re going, the only thing that might actually cost you more is Dynamic Currency Conversion. That’s when a merchant asks if you want to pay in the local currency rather than U.S. dollars. You should always say no to that. Most of the time, you’ll get ripped off with high exchange rates.

The Discover good grades bonus is $20 per year you earn a GPA of 3.0 or higher, for up to five years. This Discover good grades bonus is available with the Discover it Student Cash Back and Discover it Student Chrome credit cards.

Getting your Discover good grades bonus for your credit card is easy. All you have to do is log in to your online account and go to “Your Shortcuts,” then “Good Grades Reward.” After you submit your school’s grading range and your GPA, you’ll receive a $20 statement credit within 7 business days.

It’s possible that Discover might ask you to send them proof of your grades, such as an academic transcript. If they do, you won’t be able to receive your bonus until you provide this proof. But Discover won’t always ask for verification.

You can also get a Discover good grades bonus with a student loan. That works a little differently. Instead of getting a flat cash back amount each year you instead get a one-time reward of 1% of the loan amount. There are a few more details of these two offers you should know about.

Here’s how the Discover good grades bonus works:

• Discover’s student credit cards give $20 cash back every year you have a 3.0 GPA or better – for up to five years.
• To get your card bonus, log in to your online account and go to “Your Shortcuts,” then “Good Grades Reward.” Put in your school’s grading range (e.g. 0.0 to 4.0) and your own GPA.
• The Discover good grades credit card bonus comes as a statement credit within 7 business days of when you submit your grades.
• If you have a Discover student loan and graduate with a 3.0 or higher, you’re eligible for a one-time cash bonus of 1% of the loan amount.

You are eligible for the Discover student loan good grades bonus if you took out such a loan on or after May 14, 2014 and graduated with a GPA of 3.0 or higher. To get the bonus, you must submit your grades

To collect your bonus, log in to your student loan account and submit your grades within 6 months of the academic period covered by the loan ending or 6 months after the loan’s final disbursement, whichever is later. You’ll get your 1% Discover good grades bonus as a check within 2-3 weeks.