Discover Card - why you might want to get one ASAP (by the end of July - update: now December)!!

This is really a good deal.  Even if you have never considered a Discover card, hopefully you'll see that it's something you should consider.  Read on ...

(Note: If you haven't already, you might want to read THIS POST that I published just before this one.  And, as I always link when talking about credit cards, THIS warning.)


Update:  Doctor of Credit (and others) have now confirmed that this Discover "double cashback" promotion has been extended to NEW Discover cardholders who sign up between now and the end of 2015 (was previously supposed to expire at then end of July and then September).


If you are like me ... at least until a year or so ago ... you probably have never considered applying for a Discover credit card.  What is the point, right?  Well, let me tell you.  Actually, before I tell you, I'm going to list 3 great resources that will do a better (certainly more thorough) job than I'll be able to do:

Frequent Miler post #1

Frequent Miler post #2

Miles to Memories

Doctor of Credit

In a nutshell, there's a few great reasons for getting this card.  But the biggest (as you can read in any of the links above) is that Discover is currently running a promotion whereby it will DOUBLE all rewards you earn over the first 12 months that you have the card.  BUT YOU MUST SIGN UP BEFORE THEN END OF THIS MONTH (and you probably don't want to cut it too close).

One of the best features of the Discover card is that it allows you to use the Discover shopping portal (called "Discover Deals").  Unlike most shopping portals (which you can read about HERE, such as Ebates or FatWallet or TopCashBack - or any of the others you might find listed on a website like CashBackMonitor.com), to use the Discover shopping portal, you MUST be a Discover cardholder.  Why should you care?  Simply put, you will often find that the Discover portal pays you back the best return. ESPECIALLY when you take into account the fact that they will DOUBLE your rewards earned over the next 12 months (granted the "doubling" part doesn't get paid out until the end of the 12 months).

I cannot STRESS enough what a great deal this is to be able to earn a doubling of what are already great shopping portal payouts at Discover.  If you don't read anything else, read the part about "double dipping" (especially at Sears.com) in Frequent Miler's post (#2) above.

There's no annual fee on the Discover Card, so there's really no harm in signing up (as long as you can handle the risks of having credit cards).  You always earn 1% back on everything you buy with the card (2% over the next year - which is key, because 1% is really nothing to get excited about - as I will write about more on a later date!), and you will have the chance to earn 5% (10% for the next year) in rotating quarterly categories.

Finally, you can get $50 for signing up for the Discover card.  I'm pretty sure that $50 will be doubled at the end of the first year, so it's really $100.  Now that is NOT a great sign-up bonus compared to other credit cards, but it is pretty good for a no-annual-fee credit card, and the REAL reason for signing up is the shopping portals access and the double-rewards for the first year (as described above).

If you decide to sign up for this card, I wouldn't mind if you used my referral link. You'll get the $50 for signing up and so will I (and it should be doubled for both of us at the end of 12 months - if you sign up by the end of July 2015 - update: now the end of September 2015).  HERE IS MY REFERRAL LINK.  Or you can go directly to the www.Discover.com website.