The Discover It Card: Your Key to Cash-Back Glory

The Discover It is the talk of the town: A brand-new rewards card that offers 5% cash back on rotating categories, no annual fee, access to killer cash back offers and the kind of elite perks you rarely see on free credit cards. But does the Discover It hold up under closer review? According to us nerds, it does indeed.

Discover it®
	The new Discover it card is out to change the way people think about credit cards. Fair...No annual fee. No overlimit fee. No foreign transaction fee & no pay-by-phone fee. No late fee on your first late payment. And we won't increase your APR for paying late.* Generous…5% Cashback Bonus on up to $1,500 in purchases at Home Improvement Stores now through June with free and easy sign-up. And 1% cash back on all other purchases.* Plus a Cashback ConciergeSM who guides a free, personalized online tour to help you get the most rewards for how you use your card. Flexible…Choose your own due date and pay up to midnight ET online or by phone. Human…talk to a real person any time with 100% U.S.-based service. Safe…Because you’ll never pay for unauthorized purchases with our $0 Fraud Liability Guarantee. 0% Intro APR* on purchases and balance transfers for 14 months. Then the variable purchase APR applies, currently 10.99% - 22.99%. *Click apply for Terms & Conditions.
Annual Fee	Signup Bonus	APR , Variable*	Intro APR Promotions
$0	5% Cashback Bonus on up to $1,500 in purchases at Home Improvement Stores now through June with free and easy sign-up.	10.99% - 22.99% (V)*	0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 14 months.

Live like a king, without paying through the nose

The best part about the Discover More is that it offers premium-level features like price and return protection, which you typically see on only the high-end, super-expensive cards. Moreover, it waives a number of pesky fees, and is your entree to ShopDiscover, an online bonus mall offering 5%-20% cash back on popular retailers from Apple to Walmart. Here’s how the It’s features compare.

Move over, Discover More, there’s a new card in town

The new Discover It replaces the longstanding Discover More, which offered 5% cash back and either 14 months of 0% APR on balance transfers and purchases, or 6 on purchases and 18 on transfers. We didn’t think too highly of the More as a cash-back card, but it stacked up well as a balance transfer card that earned rewards. The It keeps the 14-month 0% APR promotion, but without the transfer deal, it’s not quite as compelling. Still, its bonus categories (the same as the More’s) are decent, and unlike the More, you get 1% back on all non-bonus spending, rather than earning just 0.25% on the first $3,000 spent annually. This is in addition to the waived or mitigated fees: it has no foreign transaction fee, no penalty APR, and no late fee the first time you miss a payment.

Here’s the Discover It’s bonus schedule for 2013:

• Q1: Restaurants and movies, up to $1,500 spent per quarter
• Q2: “Spring style” (last year: restaurants and movies)
• Q3: “Summer fun” (last year: gas, movies and theme parks)
• Q4: “Holiday shopping” (last year: department stores and online shopping)

But the Discover It is not without downsides. We’ll compare it to the two reigning 5% cash back champions, the Chase Freedom and US Bank Cash+.

Enter Chase Freedom, stage left

We don’t deny that the It is better than the More, giving 1% rewards right off the bat. But another opponent has entered: the Chase Freedom. Like the Discover It, the Freedom has no annual fee and gives 5% bonus rewards to $1,500 spent quarterly. Here’s how the cards’ features compare:

To sum it up, if it’s acceptance and a signup bonus you’re looking for, the Freedom’s your guy. But if you want ongoing rewards or perks, Discover’s got you covered, easily.

And stage right, the US Bank Cash+

The other 5% mainstay is the US Bank Cash+. It offers 5% cash back on two bonus categories (you choose from a slate that changes quarterly), 2% on gas, groceries or drugstores, and 1% elsewhere. And if you save up $100 worth of cash back, you get an extra $25, bumping your rewards rate up to 6.25%, 2.5% and 1.25%. Not bad! Here’s how this one stacks up.

In this case, the Cash+ card’s superior rewards carry the day. But if you’re looking to pay no interest on balance transfers or purchases, avoid hidden fees or take advantage of perks usually reserved for the elite, the Discover It offers all that and more.

Chase Freedom® Visa	U.S. Bank Cash+™ Visa Signature® Card
Signing Promo
Earn $100 Bonus Cash Back after you make $500 in purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.	None
Intro APR Promo
0% APR for 15 months on purchases & balance transfers	Purchase: None Bal Trans: 0% for 6 mos
Annual fee
$0	$0
Details
This offer is for people with a good to excellent credit history which means, among other things, that your credit history is clear of bankruptcy and seriously delinquent accounts Earn $100 Bonus Cash Back after you make $500 in purchases in your first 3 months from account opening 0% Intro APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers 5% Cash Back on up to $1,500 spent between Apr 1 and Jun 30, 2013 at restaurants, movie theaters, and Lowe's® You'll enjoy new 5% categories every 3 months like gas stations, restaurants and Amazon.com. It's free and easy to activate your bonus each quarter! Unlimited 1% Cash Back on all other purchases No annual fee and rewards never expire	Earn 5% cash back on two categories that you choose, like department stores, restaurants...plus many more Earn 2% cash back on gas, groceries or drug stores - choose one Earn 1% cash back on everything else Get a $25 Cash+ Bonus each time you redeem $100 or more cash back in a single redemption No Annual Fee