Cash Back Rewards/ Help me understand??!

[Anonymous]

Hoping someone has a spreadsheet or can help me understand. I applied and was approved for a Discover IT card. I received the card on March 3rd... First statement just cut. I ran $ 4,175.97 through and earned $46.82 in cashback rewards as noted below from my account. 

I can't paste a similar screen from my USAA Preferred Rewards Visa (as they have different types of screens) however, I received that card about a month prior to Discover. I have only run $2,941.00 through it but I have earned and even $50.00 in cashback rewards.

To me my spend is really in the same categories per card. That being said, Discover will be doubling my Cashback at one year... What I want to figure out though is why my USAA card is netting me more reward dollars... I feel like I need some type of spreadsheet to track this and figure out which is truly the better card for my spend.

Any insight or ideas on how to set up something to track this would be appreciated. Thanks All!!!

Summary for Statements: 2016 Year-to-Date (Jan 1 – Apr 20, 2016)

Total Purchases, Cash Adv, Balance Trans

Purchases		$4,175.97
Cash Advances		$0.00
Balance Transfers		$0.00
Interest Charged		$0.00
Fees		$0.00

Total Payments and Credits

Payments and Credits		-$3,688.19
Awards and Rebate Credits		$0.00

Note: Totals may not reflect your current balance.

Print Detail Detailed Rewards Activity

Opening Balance		$0.00
New Cashback Bonus This Period
5% Cashback Bonus
5% CBB - RESTAURANTS AND MOVIE	+	$5.69
5% CBB - Q1 GAS/GROUND TRANS	+	$1.65
Discover Deals & Promotional	+	$0.00
Everywhere Else	+	$39.48
Redemption Activity This Period	–	$0.00

Cashback Bonus Balance $46.82

[Aahz]

Only $146.80 of your Discover spending was in the 5% categories.  The other $4029.17 only earned 1% cashback.

Meanwhile all $2941 of your USAA spending received 1.5% cashback which should be $44.12

[Anonymous]

Thanks... think I may have figured out the difference... not sure still digging but think I have some rewards credited top the total under my debit card as well.

[kdm31091]

If a lot of your spend isn't in Discover's bonus categories, then the straight 1.5% on the USAA is probably going to net you more in the long run. It looks like a relatively insignificant amount of your spend qualified for 5% on Discover.

[takeshi74]

Tracking with Discover can be difficult given how they report the spend and cashback.  There are those who do it but I find reconciling with how Discover determined it to be a pain.

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@Anonymous wrote:

To me my spend is really in the same categories per card.

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Don't just assume that.  If you're going to track cash back with Discover you need to be aware of what is and what isn't category spend.  Be aware of the details regarding what qualifies for a given category and what does not.  Even then, you may difficult reconciling with Discover.

For any card with rotating bonus categories it really doesn't make much sense to get the card unless you have a lot of spend in the bonus categories.  If the majority of your spend is noncategory then you're probably better of with a card that offers 1.5% or 2% on all spend as suggested above.

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@kdm31091 wrote:

If a lot of your spend isn't in Discover's bonus categories, then the straight 1.5% on the USAA is probably going to net you more in the long run. It looks like a relatively insignificant amount of your spend qualified for 5% on Discover.

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Though the double cash back offer makes the Discover it 10% / 2% during the first year.  But yeah, after first year, 1.5% > %1 on noncategory spend.

[kdm31091]

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@takeshi74 wrote:

Tracking with Discover can be difficult given how they report the spend and cashback.  There are those who do it but I find reconciling with how Discover determined it to be a pain.

---

@Anonymous wrote:

To me my spend is really in the same categories per card.

---

Don't just assume that.  If you're going to track cash back with Discover you need to be aware of what is and what isn't category spend.  Be aware of the details regarding what qualifies for a given category and what does not.  Even then, you may difficult reconciling with Discover.

For any card with rotating bonus categories it really doesn't make much sense to get the card unless you have a lot of spend in the bonus categories.  If the majority of your spend is noncategory then you're probably better of with a card that offers 1.5% or 2% on all spend as suggested above.

---

@kdm31091 wrote:

If a lot of your spend isn't in Discover's bonus categories, then the straight 1.5% on the USAA is probably going to net you more in the long run. It looks like a relatively insignificant amount of your spend qualified for 5% on Discover.

---

Though the double cash back offer makes the Discover it 10% / 2% during the first year.  But yeah, after first year, 1.5% > %1 on noncategory spend.

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I agree. Both Discover and Citi need to improve in this department. Neither breaks down the rewards per transaction which can be annoying.

[Anonymous]

Most of that spend on Discover was in the month of March before Dining kicked in in April. Amazon will be awesome for me.

It's hard to beat my deal at Kroger on gas due to their loyalty card rewards I always get a $1 off a gallon. It appears Kroger Fuel does not qualify for the 5% Discover Cash Dollars.

I just need to figure out my spend per card a bit better. Both are new cards Feb 2016 on the USAA and March on the Discover. It would be nice if they listed the reward per transaction but neither card does that. I am excited today because I just pulled my 3B and my scores are now at EQ701, TU 685, EX 697.... I started on this board 1 year and 2 months ago with my highest score at 557! Can't wait until I am in Green territory!