topic Discover 5% vs chase freedom flex in Credit Cards

Discover 5% vs chase freedom flex

rgd51 — Sat, 08 Jan 2022 18:48:56 GMT

Was thinking of adding a rotating 5% categories card to my wallet. I have the chase freedom unlimited so the only thing the flex would do for me is the SUB as well as the 5% categories and cell phone insurance. The discover card would only do the 5% categories as well as the cash back match for the 1st year. Can anyone who has these cards tell me which is better? I don't fall under 5/24 until October.

Re: Discover 5% vs chase freedom flex

EAJuggalo — Sat, 08 Jan 2022 20:06:00 GMT

I hold both currently and much prefer the Freedom Flex. The Cell Phone insurance is the reason I PC'd my Freedom. I prefer getting UR to cash back.

Re: Discover 5% vs chase freedom flex

rgd51 — Sat, 08 Jan 2022 20:16:51 GMT

I prefer cash back so that part wouldn't make a difference to me. Which usually has better categories?

Re: Discover 5% vs chase freedom flex

quikj9 — Sat, 08 Jan 2022 20:22:51 GMT

I have both cards and also prefer URs to cash back, so the CFF gets more use.

Discover:

Requesting CLIs is a soft pull and they can lower your apr over time. They'll also offer 0% apr promo periods from time to time. If you have high spend, the first year of cash back match can be particularly useful. Fantastic customer service. I love that they outline the entire year's 5% categories in advance.

CFF:

The rewards earning structure is better than Discover with additonal multipliers for dining, drug stores and travel in the Chase portal. Pooling of points with your CFU and potentially a Sapphire or CIP provides a significant uplift to an already stout earning structure. The Cell phone insurance is a plus, but a number of Mastercards seem to be losing this benefit.

Re: Discover 5% vs chase freedom flex

rgd51 — Sat, 08 Jan 2022 20:38:10 GMT

@quikj9 wrote:
I have both cards and also prefer URs to cash back, so the CFF gets more use.

Discover:
Requesting CLIs is a soft pull and they can lower your apr over time. They'll also offer 0% apr promo periods from time to time. If you have high spend, the first year of cash back match can be particularly useful. Fantastic customer service. I love that they outline the entire year's 5% categories in advance.

CFF:
The rewards earning structure is better than Discover with additonal multipliers for dining, drug stores and travel in the Chase portal. Pooling of points with your CFU and potentially a Sapphire or CIP provides a significant uplift to an already stout earning structure. The Cell phone insurance is a plus, but a number of Mastercards seem to be losing this benefit.

With my CFU and amazon visa since i Bank with chase as well I always deposit my cash back into my chase savings account and I like that I can do that with chase cards. What are the redemption options with discover?

Discover said I am pre qualified at their lowest interest rate but not sure how reliable that is?

Today my only option would be discover since I'm still in 5/24 jail.

Re: Discover 5% vs chase freedom flex

Anonymous — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 00:28:19 GMT

@rgd51 wrote:
@quikj9 wrote:
I have both cards and also prefer URs to cash back, so the CFF gets more use.

Discover:
Requesting CLIs is a soft pull and they can lower your apr over time. They'll also offer 0% apr promo periods from time to time. If you have high spend, the first year of cash back match can be particularly useful. Fantastic customer service. I love that they outline the entire year's 5% categories in advance.

CFF:
The rewards earning structure is better than Discover with additonal multipliers for dining, drug stores and travel in the Chase portal. Pooling of points with your CFU and potentially a Sapphire or CIP provides a significant uplift to an already stout earning structure. The Cell phone insurance is a plus, but a number of Mastercards seem to be losing this benefit.

With my CFU and amazon visa since i Bank with chase as well I always deposit my cash back into my chase savings account and I like that I can do that with chase cards. What are the redemption options with discover?

Discover said I am pre qualified at their lowest interest rate but not sure how reliable that is?

Today my only option would be discover since I'm still in 5/24 jail.

From Discover website...

"You can redeem as much or as little Cashback Bonus as you like, even a penny. Do this by paying at checkout at Amazon.com or with PayPal, applying it to your Discover bill, depositing to a bank account, applying statement credit, or donating to a charity. Only gift cards have a starting limit."

You can deposit rewards to your Chase account.

Re: Discover 5% vs chase freedom flex

rgd51 — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 00:55:03 GMT

Are they like chase where you have to wait for the statement to close to access the rewards or is it more like cap one where the rewards are available within a day or 2 of the transaction posting?

Re: Discover 5% vs chase freedom flex

FormerCollegeDJ — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 01:38:43 GMT

@rgd51 wrote:
Are they like chase where you have to wait for the statement to close to access the rewards or is it more like cap one where the rewards are available within a day or 2 of the transaction posting?

The Discover It card is like Chase's cards in that regard. Capital One is generally the exception to the rule; most card issuers are like Chase.

Discover It usually has a restaurants quarterly category while the Chase Freedom Flex does not.

You can review both cards' quarterly categories in recent years (and Discover's categories this year) via an internet search. IIRC The Points Guy website tracks the CFF/Chase Freedom and Discover It quarterly categories history.

Re: Discover 5% vs chase freedom flex

quikj9 — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 02:05:39 GMT

You have the option to redeem your cash back into your Chase account, as a statement credit, pay with points on Amazon, gift cards, etc..

Unfortunately, you do have to wait until your statement cuts to get your hands on those rewards.

Re: Discover 5% vs chase freedom flex

rgd51 — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 02:07:19 GMT

Waiting until the statement cuts isn't a big deal to me if i can still redeem once a month. Once a year stuff like the Costco card I wouldn't be ok with.

Re: Discover 5% vs chase freedom flex

Anonymous — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 02:14:32 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
From Discover website...
"You can redeem as much or as little Cashback Bonus as you like, even a penny. Do this by paying at checkout at Amazon.com or with PayPal, applying it to your Discover bill, depositing to a bank account, applying statement credit, or donating to a charity. Only gift cards have a starting limit."
You can deposit rewards to your Chase account.

That is great news and a point in Discover's favor for a potential new card for me. See, these are the little things that are fantastic to learn. Thank you, @Anonymous

Re: Discover 5% vs chase freedom flex

xenon3030 — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 03:37:17 GMT

Discover matches cashback at the end of the first year, reflecting that you earn 10%. Discover has a few deals (they send a few by email a few times each quarter) but you can find several ~5-10% deals on CFF at Chase portal. Discover gives sometimes 0% APR offers for one year.

If you can, it is better to get both, since they are excellent and usually complementary (except this quarter that both cover groceries). The Discover card is easier to obtain but Chase has 5/24 rule. For Chase UR points, you may use CSP/CSR multiplier and in that case, you can redeem the points at a better rate.

Re: Discover 5% vs chase freedom flex

rgd51 — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 14:17:16 GMT

Which card usually has better categories? I know the flex is a WE MC and has perks with that and didn't discover nerf all their perks?

Re: Discover 5% vs chase freedom flex

Yasselife — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 15:06:03 GMT

@rgd51 Try to get both in the future. I would start with freedom flex; it has additional 3% on dining, drugstores, travel + last December Chase offered an extra 4% on whatever category was used the most in that month. The card also offers flexible spend with mychase plan, and chase loan[low apr]... both are good as I said though Chase is superior in my opinion.
Another advantage is that when you pay off your full balance it will report right away to the bureaus without having to wait until the closing date. This makes AZEO easier, I sometimes use it as a bridge.

Rewards you can redeem with no minimum unlike Amex and Citi ($25)

Re: Discover 5% vs chase freedom flex

Lou-natic — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 15:20:10 GMT

Call me crazy but if doing the 5% rotator thing wouldn't you want as many as you can get in order to maximize your 5% cash back? I mean sometimes there will be overlap but the point being you want to cover as many catagories as possible right?

Re: Discover 5% vs chase freedom flex

Anonymous — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 15:45:40 GMT

@Lou-natic wrote:
Call me crazy but if doing the 5% rotator thing wouldn't you want as many as you can get in order to maximize your 5% cash back? I mean sometimes there will be overlap but the point being you want to cover as many catagories as possible right?

Well, only if there was no limit to the cards you can get, and you are happy with managing them. Otherwise there might be other cards that will give better returns on your spend than yet another rotator.

Re: Discover 5% vs chase freedom flex

Anonymous — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 15:49:13 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
From Discover website...
"You can redeem as much or as little Cashback Bonus as you like, even a penny. Do this by paying at checkout at Amazon.com or with PayPal, applying it to your Discover bill, depositing to a bank account, applying statement credit, or donating to a charity. Only gift cards have a starting limit."
You can deposit rewards to your Chase account.
That is great news and a point in Discover's favor for a potential new card for me. See, these are the little things that are fantastic to learn. Thank you, @Anonymous

Re gift cards: Discover also offers redemption for retail gift cards at a discount from time to time (so you can redeem say $40 in rewards for a $50 gift card.) This increases the value of the points, and makes sense if you would use that store anyway. Plus, one of the few times where storing up cashback points makes sense rather than redeeming ASAP.

Re: Discover 5% vs chase freedom flex

Yasselife — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 16:22:45 GMT

@Anonymous Chase offers discounts[10-15%] on store/dining cards as well; amazon, UA...

Re: Discover 5% vs chase freedom flex

Anonymous — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 18:05:16 GMT

@Yasselife wrote:
@Anonymous Chase offers discounts[10-15%] on store/dining cards as well; amazon, UA...

Yes but I believe the Discover percentage is higher. Also, on my CSR I show a number of gift cards at 10% off whereas I could use PYB for 50%

Re: Discover 5% vs chase freedom flex

NRB525 — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 19:37:19 GMT

I would suggest getting the Discover card now, OP. Since a Freedom Flex SUB is not available, I would wait til you get to 4/24 and add the CFF card that way. You could PC to CFF, but I gotta say, I'm glad I apped for a new CFF.
If you get the Discover now, when next are you at 4/24?

The doubled cash match on Discover is your best available SUB between the actual card options you have. The corner case "benefits" that get nerfed usually aren't often used... thus they get nerfed.