A word about the Freedom/CSP combo vs. Discover IT. Some have made the point here that you can get better than 1c/point value on the Freedom/CSP combo by transferring the UR points. Fair enough. But you can also make better than 1c/cashback cent for Discover if you redeem with partner gift cards. The range for Freedom/CSP seems to be 1.5-3 cents per point, the lower range being more attainable than the upper. Discover's partner gift cards multiply the value of cashback by 1.2-2x, again the lower range being more attainable. Now, factor in the CSP annual fee at $95. It's fair to say that you would have to recoup the $95 with the Freedom in order for it to even with the Discover IT, which has no AF. Let's see how much it takes to recoup it, at both the lower and upper ranges.
Lower range: Freedom 1.5 cents per point, Discover 1.2 cents per cashback cent.
The difference is 0.3 cents here per point. At that rate, to recoup $95, you would need 31,667 points. If you were to do it all using 5x categories, you couldn't, because the spend required would be $6,333, and 5x categories are capped at $6,000 for the year. So the least you can spend is $7,665 to recoup.
Upper range: Freedom 3 cents per point, Discover 2.
Again, the difference is 1 cent per point, so you would need 9500 points to recoup the cost of the CSP AF. That's just $1900 in spend on 5x categories.
So yes, the CSP/Freedom combo is better if you are redeeming at the super high rate AND only using the card for 5x categories, but at least the former remains difficult enough to do that most people can't reach it. There's even a case to be made for the CSP/Freedom combo at the more attainable redemption levels, still, only spending on the 5x categories can be some work.
The above calculations also don't account for the fact that Discover Deals often gives cashback at 5, 10, 15%, and that that cashback is unlimited and can be stacked with category cashback. With that taken into account, racking up cashback is easier with Discover than with Freedom/CSP.
