topic Re: Discover Motiva in Credit Cards

Discover Motiva

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 01:12:34 GMT

anyone out there use a Discover Motiva? i received an invitation pre approved deal in the mail oferring 3.9 apr til next year and then 13.9 from there on...

pardon my ignorance since ive never had a discover card but are they as commonly accepted as visas and mastercard?

i frequent some merchants that wont accept AMEX and was now wondering about a Discover. i use an amex that my employer gave me and if its a smaller merchant they tend to shy away from the amex due to the fees involved.

any feedback on the Discover Motiva will be greatly appreciated.

thanks

Re: Discover Motiva

John060675 — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 03:16:58 GMT

bump............Sorry I cannot answer, but I am sure someone will very shortly.

Re: Discover Motiva

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 04:13:08 GMT

Discover isn't as frequently found in the US as Visa/MC, but it seems there are a bit more merchants that take Discover than Amex.

For my side business, I can take cc. It depends on volume, but mostly my Discover fees are less than my Amex fees. A lot of folks mention that the merchant rates for V/MC are less than Amex. Well, for a small business like mine, because of the monthly base rate + the fee, it's more expensive to accept V/MC. Amex and Discover only charge me per transaction, there are no additional fees.

Re: Discover Motiva

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 08:12:20 GMT

Hello,

I would just like to point out, that this card, although a good card is useless to those that PIF each month.

Here is something to consider about the Discover Motiva:

"The amount of the interest you receive back for your Pay-On-Time reward is calculated based on your monthly finance charges. If you pay your bill on time each month and in full—and thus incur no interest on your purchases—you don’t get any interest back and the reward is null in your case. This tells consumers that if they choose to carry debt, they will be rewarded with money back".

So, to take advantage of this card, you need to keep debt on the card. This goes almost against everything we talk about here on these boards. Besides the typical 1-9% utilization, we dont want a balance on our cards.

I would suggest, if you want to apply for a Discover card, to apply for the Discover More card.

Robo

Re: Discover Motiva

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 11:19:38 GMT

thanks to all that replied.

you are absolutely right about having to stay in debt in order to rake in the cash back benefit. i am not going to get this card. i just figured i would inquire about it with the pros and see what the general take on it is.

Re: Discover Motiva

haulingthescoreup — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 11:43:10 GMT

Way to watch! What you might start doing in the meantime is take note of which cards are accepted at your usual shopping spots. If you're getting preapprovals for Discover cards, you might be getting some more useful cards than the Motiva coming your way.

In my experience, it is taken just about everywhere except mom-and-pop stores and specialized places like doctor's offices and university tuition payment sites. And from what PenguinGeek said, it looks like the mom-and-pops need to do some research on Discover!

Re: Discover Motiva

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 14:18:40 GMT

Depends on where you're at. I have a Discover and the only reason I still do is because it's my oldest account. A lot of the places I shop and dine will not take it.

Re: Discover Motiva

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 15:24:20 GMT

PenguinGeek wrote:
Discover isn't as frequently found in the US as Visa/MC, but it seems there are a bit more merchants that take Discover than Amex.

For my side business, I can take cc. It depends on volume, but mostly my Discover fees are less than my Amex fees. A lot of folks mention that the merchant rates for V/MC are less than Amex. Well, for a small business like mine, because of the monthly base rate + the fee, it's more expensive to accept V/MC. Amex and Discover only charge me per transaction, there are no additional fees.

is it it true, that I've heard AMEX takes their fee at the POS, instead of sending you a bill? If so that bites, cause that's money that could be kept invested til you get the bill. Does Discover do the same, if so that could be why they don't have the other fees less involment if the don't have to bill you.

Re: Discover Motiva

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:03:26 GMT

I've had 3 cc merchant accounts now, they all take their fee at transaction basically.

If I take a charge for $10, I'll get something like $9.45 deposited in my biz bank account in the next day or two. Amex and Discover do take an extra day to deposit.

Percentage to percentage, V/MC is less than Amex and Discover. But V/MC also tacks on an additional $.25 or $.30 per transaction. Not to mention the $24-30 a month I pay which I know some go to V/MC, some go to my service provider. Corporate cards overall are a higher %'age across the board.

I've found pluses and minuses to both (V/MC and other). I've also found it does seem to be true that Amex holders spend more than other card holder types. At least from my little ole data point.

Of course, volume can help for any type of card. (More volume, more discounts towards rates.)