CreditShout ranks the Discover More cashback credit card as the best rewards credit card. With no annual fee and extremely generous cash back bonuses, this is a fantastic card for people with excellent credit and, typically, a FICO credit score of 720 or greater.
But all Discover rewards credit card holders (not just Discover More) gain access to the ShopDiscover store, which offers great deals and additional cashback bonuses (CB) on purchases. One of the hottest deals right now is 15% cashback on Groupon purchases. The Groupon website offers fantastic deals of 50% off or more on activities, restaurants, and stores in your area. Tack on an extra 15% cashback and you can’t go wrong.
Here’s a list of some of the other best Cashback Bonus deals, along with their expiration dates. To really make the most of your Discover rewards card, check the ShopDiscover store before you make any purchase to check out the CB deals. But, remember to also shop around and do the math. Sometimes other online discounters have lower prices, even when you factor in the CB rewards.
- 5% CB: Lowes.com, AnnTaylor.com, Sears.com, TheChildrensPlace.com, Kohls.com, ColdwaterCreek.com, LordandTaylor.com, Gap.com, HomeDepot.com
- 10% CB: Gardeners.com, LuckyBrand.com, Snapfish.com, Fandango.com
- 15% CB: Groupon.com, TurboTax.com, Shop.NHL.com
- 20% CB: 1800Flowers.com, Restaurants.com, FTD.com
Don’t forget that you can also earn cashback bonuses of 5% (up to $800 in purchases) in rotating categories that change every quarter.
Discover adds grocery and drug stores to the list for March; Discover More users have already been earning 5% CB on all their travel and restaurant purchases through the fourth quarter.
The categories for the rest of the year are as follows:
- April through June: Home and Fashion
- July through September: Gas, Hotels, Movies and Theme Parks
- October through December: Restaurants and Fashion
Hands-down, partner gift cards are the best way to redeem your Discover card cashback rewards. You can cash in your rewards for up to double their value when you redeem for popular gift cards like Lowe’s, Kohl’s, Red Lobster, Macy’s, The Gap and more. Discover offers more than 100 choices in retailer gift cards.
If you opt to purchase merchandise with your rewards, you’ll get free shipping and pay no sales tax. Of course, you can always get a Discover statement credit to help you pay down your debt, or get cash back deposited direct into your bank account.
If you’re really bored, or just a complete financial voyeur like me, the Discover website offers a cool interactive map where you can view, in real time, exactly how other Discover card holders are redeeming their rewards on the Cashback Bonus map.
You can view a map of the entire U.S. and wait as different reward redemptions pop up ($25 statement credit here, $50 gift card there), or you can click on your state to see exactly what people in your region are doing with their rewards, along with the average cashback redemption and the largest cashback redemption.
I was quite surprised to see the largest cashback rewards redemption in New York for March was $4,400. The average redemption for the state is almost $75. As I was writing this, someone in Poughkeepsie got a $600 statement credit.
I’ve got to hand it to Discover; I’ve never seen a feature like this through any other credit card company, and to me, it’s more fun than most of the Facebook games. (And it’s not invasive, since you don’t have to enter any information about yourself or even have your own Discover card.) Check it out.
