topic Re: Discover card question in Credit Cards

Discover card question

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 01:18:42 GMT

Hello all.

I just received and activated my new Discover it card today. Just a quick question about the cash back rewards. I understand about the 5% rotating categories and the 1% back on all other purchases. Do the rewards apply to paying utility bills or do they apply only to actual purchases?

Thanks.

Re: Discover card question

Remedios — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 01:28:14 GMT

You do get cashback when using card to pay bills

Re: Discover card question

pinkandgrey — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 01:48:34 GMT

You’ll get the cashback whenever you use the card period.

Re: Discover card question

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 02:04:18 GMT

- You earn 5% Cashback at different places/spending Cateogories each quarter.

- You earn unlimited 1% Cashback on "ALL" other purchases.

- Congratulations on your new card 👏🏾

Re: Discover card question

Brooklyn2018 — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 03:13:49 GMT

Congrats on you new Discover IT!!!👏👏👏

Re: Discover card question

CreditInspired — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 03:21:34 GMT

Congratulations OP and welcome to MyFICO.

Yes you will get 2% cashback first year for putting utilities on your Disco IT.

On another note—wasn’t Discover’s packaging beautiful? That’s what I liked when I received my card.

Enjoy the double cashback your first year.

Re: Discover card question

CreditCuriosity — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 13:15:27 GMT

Some posts have been removed for obvious reasons. Thread will be now reopened.

edit: also forogot to put this in here for anyone that needs a reminder.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Forum-Etiquette/m-p/2797115

Re: Discover card question

Brooklyn2018 — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 04:30:25 GMT

+1@CreditCuriosity

Re: Discover card question

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 07:20:27 GMT

Sweet! Thanks for all the quick replies. I think I'm going to love this card.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Re: Discover card question

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 07:32:05 GMT

@CreditInspired wrote:
Congratulations OP and welcome to MyFICO.

Yes you will get 2% cashback first year for putting utilities on your Disco IT.

On another note—wasn’t Discover’s packaging beautiful? That’s what I liked when I received my card.

Enjoy the double cashback your first year.

Good to know. I wasn't sure if a "bill" was considered an actual "purchase".

Yes, the packaging was great. It was a nice touch.

Re: Discover card question

ChargedUp — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 08:58:21 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@CreditInspired wrote:
Congratulations OP and welcome to MyFICO.

Yes you will get 2% cashback first year for putting utilities on your Disco IT.

On another note—wasn’t Discover’s packaging beautiful? That’s what I liked when I received my card.

Enjoy the double cashback your first year.

Good to know. I wasn't sure if a "bill" was considered an actual "purchase".
Yes, the packaging was great. It was a nice touch.

You *purchase* electricity, water, natural gas, etc. when you pay a utility bill. The utility companies are all considered merchants.

Re: Discover card question

xaximus — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 17:09:16 GMT

Any purchase that does not fall under the 5% categories will get a 1% CB, but keep in mind, that is effectively doubled for the first year. So any purchase at 1% will be getting 2%. Same with the 5% categories. Discover is a good card especially for the first year because of the CB match. Make sure you activate the 5% categories for every quarter as well.

Re: Discover card question

Appleman — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 17:21:06 GMT

Just be careful as some utility companies charge a credit card fee.

For instance, there is a charge of 2.4% from my gas company to use a credit card to pay my bill. So, in this case, it would not be worth it to use a credit card.

Re: Discover card question

K-in-Boston — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 18:04:09 GMT

@Appleman wrote:
Just be careful as some utility companies charge a credit card fee.

For instance, there is a charge of 2.4% from my gas company to use a credit card to pay my bill. So, in this case, it would not be worth it to use a credit card.

That's a very valid point. Boston Water & Sewer doesn't charge a fee, but Eversource (gas and electric bills) do charge a $2.25 Western Union Speedpay fee for each $600 paid, so I've lately found myself just paying $600 each on my gas and electric bills whenever it gets back up to a positive number to maximize rewards. That works out to 3/8 of a percent fee that way, so once I factor in rewards that's much better than just paying it out of checking.

Re: Discover card question

SouthJamaica — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 18:20:00 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello all.
I just received and activated my new Discover it card today. Just a quick question about the cash back rewards. I understand about the 5% rotating categories and the 1% back on all other purchases. Do the rewards apply to paying utility bills or do they apply only to actual purchases?
Thanks.

Yes you get 1% cash back on paying utilities bills, but most utilities charge a "convenience fee" which will eclipse that 1%.

Re: Discover card question

SouthJamaica — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 20:03:18 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
@Appleman wrote:
Just be careful as some utility companies charge a credit card fee.

For instance, there is a charge of 2.4% from my gas company to use a credit card to pay my bill. So, in this case, it would not be worth it to use a credit card.

That's a very valid point. Boston Water & Sewer doesn't charge a fee, but Eversource (gas and electric bills) do charge a $2.25 Western Union Speedpay fee for each $600 paid, so I've lately found myself just paying $600 each on my gas and electric bills whenever it gets back up to a positive number to maximize rewards. That works out to 3/8 of a percent fee that way, so once I factor in rewards that's much better than just paying it out of checking.

Ingenious. Why didn't I think of that?

Re: Discover card question

K-in-Boston — Wed, 26 Dec 2018 18:01:30 GMT

Heh, silly me I didn’t realize you could overpay utilities (and Phone/Cable bills like Verizon FIOS) until recently. I used to only pay with a card when the fee made sense; now the fee always makes sense!