topic Re: Advice on Freedom/Discover More in Credit Cards

Advice on Freedom/Discover More

laboi_22 — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:14:00 GMT

I love both cards but my Freedom now has a bigger limit. Advice needed on the rewards structures. Should I use one above the other. They both have gas this quarter and they both have the same caps. What is one to do? I'm stumped. I do love Discover's customer service though and I love love their shop discover site. It is the most amazing of all the cc rewards shop sites!! Any advice would be helpful!

Re: Advice on Freedom/Discover More

-Cain- — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:20:33 GMT

That's a nice problem to have, lol.

Use discover for the online shopping and use freedom for the other overlapping categories. If you will be PIF both cards it shouldn't matter either way I think.

What are your concerns?

Re: Advice on Freedom/Discover More

laboi_22 — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:26:12 GMT

It is an awesome problem! lol. I do PIF. Just wondering since I won't use 1500 in a quarter for gas who gets my business for gas purchases? Chase or Discover? Maybe Chase since it has a bigger limit. Thinking about Discover for utility payments since its 2%. Usually use Zync for that but it's only 1 pt per dollar.

Re: Advice on Freedom/Discover More

-Cain- — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:29:37 GMT

Did you just get an increase from Chase or is it a new card? If you just got CLI from them, maybe run more thru discover to try and get a CLI there? I don't see your Chase limit figuring much into the equation since you will PIF anyway, so util% won't be an issue.

Re: Advice on Freedom/Discover More

laboi_22 — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:34:10 GMT

Yep just got a CLI from Chase. I would like to see a CLI from Discover so that sounds like a good plan. Thanks.

Re: Advice on Freedom/Discover More

RyVision — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:35:41 GMT

Discover likes use, they also tend to compete with Chase (and AMEX). Chances are if you use DM frequently and they notice you have Chase with a 3k limit, they'll match or surpass it down the road if treated right. I think it's why they gave me a decent starting limit, they saw Chase at 5k, an AMEX and a few other cards and seemed to outdo Chase.

Re: Advice on Freedom/Discover More

CS800 — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:37:35 GMT

@laboi_22 wrote:
I love both cards but my Freedom now has a bigger limit. Advice needed on the rewards structures. Should I use one above the other. They both have gas this quarter and they both have the same caps. What is one to do? I'm stumped. I do love Discover's customer service though and I love love their shop discover site. It is the most amazing of all the cc rewards shop sites!! Any advice would be helpful!

SAme issue as you since I have both. My discover has a higher CL and im still enjoying 0% on both cards. they tend to overlap but I tend to rotate the cards. For example I will be using my Freedom for the gas cashback Jan to Apr I believe then in the summer use the Discover for gas instead of the Freedom.

In my spreadsheet, I also have a section for when my cards have their 'promos' then juggle it from there.

Re: Advice on Freedom/Discover More

laboi_22 — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:38:09 GMT

To to know. Thanks for the info. I would love to see some love from DM. I would make it my primary card if they do. I love their benefits and custom service.

Re: Advice on Freedom/Discover More

CS800 — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:40:51 GMT

@RyVision wrote:
Discover likes use, they also tend to compete with Chase (and AMEX). Chances are if you use DM frequently and they notice you have Chase with a 3k limit, they'll match or surpass it down the road if treated right. I think it's why they gave me a decent starting limit, they saw Chase at 5k, an AMEX and a few other cards and seemed to outdo Chase.

I got my Discover More fisrt and use it a lot do here's hoping that discover shows me some love at the 6 mpnths mark . I just switched my cell phone bill to Discover (they had the 2% cashback if you pay your cable/phone bill'

It is a fact that Chase Fredom competes with the Discover more so , I'm sure that while doing account reviews, they will try to match each other's CL which would be beneficial to the customer. At least that's my wishful thinking

Re: Advice on Freedom/Discover More

CS800 — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:42:08 GMT

I have a BCE and I'm hoping whe i ask for a CLI on the 61st day, AMEX sees my Chase card and give me a nice CL. My Freedom is currently at $4500 and my BCE at $4000.

Re: Advice on Freedom/Discover More

LS2982 — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:42:27 GMT

@laboi_22 wrote:
I love both cards but my Freedom now has a bigger limit. Advice needed on the rewards structures. Should I use one above the other. They both have gas this quarter and they both have the same caps. What is one to do? I'm stumped. I do love Discover's customer service though and I love love their shop discover site. It is the most amazing of all the cc rewards shop sites!! Any advice would be helpful!

I would go with Discover since you are comfortable overall with them.

Re: Advice on Freedom/Discover More

CS800 — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:45:38 GMT

@laboi_22 wrote:
I love both cards but my Freedom now has a bigger limit. Advice needed on the rewards structures. Should I use one above the other. They both have gas this quarter and they both have the same caps. What is one to do? I'm stumped. I do love Discover's customer service though and I love love their shop discover site. It is the most amazing of all the cc rewards shop sites!! Any advice would be helpful!

Some of the qualifying rewards are like 6X. I thought I say 10X during the Christmas season?

Re: Advice on Freedom/Discover More

RyVision — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:02:48 GMT

CS800;

I think AMEX will probably notice you have Chase but even more so the Discover with a higher CL (6500 or more by then). Discover and AMEX have something in common to compete over, they're neither MC or VISA backed (they both seem to want to be the "Top Drawer" card in a sense). And lately I've read (and experienced) Discover is trying to outdo AMEX with their CSR's, and frankly, they kind of are lol. I think it's likely AMEX will decide they need to match or outdo your DM while screaming past your Chase. Just IMHO of course. (you also have the 3x rule at 61 with AMEX in your favor, which I think DM will help with).

As for the 2% of utilities, I put my landline, cell and cable\internet on DM auto pay as soon as I read about it. I WISH I could put the rest of house exp's there, elec, insurance etc LOL.

Re: Advice on Freedom/Discover More

CS800 — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:16:06 GMT

@RyVision wrote:
CS800;

I think AMEX will probably notice you have Chase but even more so the Discover with a higher CL (6500 or more by then). Discover and AMEX have something in common to compete over, they're neither MC or VISA backed (they both seem to want to be the "Top Drawer" card in a sense). And lately I've read (and experienced) Discover is trying to outdo AMEX with their CSR's, and frankly, they kind of are lol. I think it's likely AMEX will decide they need to match or outdo your DM while screaming past your Chase. Just IMHO of course. (you also have the 3x rule at 61 with AMEX in your favor, which I think DM will help with).

As for the 2% of utilities, I put my landline, cell and cable\internet on DM auto pay as soon as I read about it. I WISH I could put the rest of house exp's there, elec, insurance etc LOL.

My Discover is my highest CL at $6500 followed my Freedom $4500 and BCE $4000. I have had the BCE for a little bit over 1 month and have already used it a lot and pif.

So Im hoping that AMEX gives me at least a 2x CLI. I will ask for the full 3x

I wish I could put my car payment ,insurance and mortgage on a card. Imagine the points I would be racking up

Re: Advice on Freedom/Discover More

laboi_22 — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 01:07:00 GMT

I just love having banks compete for my business. Can't wait to see what happens. Who will win top spot in my wallet? I'll update as CLIs occur!

Re: Advice on Freedom/Discover More

CS800 — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 01:13:03 GMT

@laboi_22 wrote:
I just love having banks compete for my business. Can't wait to see what happens. Who will win top spot in my wallet? I'll update as CLIs occur!

The great thing is that once the fico scores go up we can make the banks work for us.

Re: Advice on Freedom/Discover More

laboi_22 — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 01:14:43 GMT

Yes we can!!!

Re: Advice on Freedom/Discover More

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 01:43:52 GMT

I also have a Freedom, Discover and just added Zync.

Now that Discover has boosted their quartlery limit to 1,500, I personally use the Discover for the 5% gas because I am not sure how Chase does their 5% back. I am not sure if their 5% points are a statement behind or what but I feel like I am not getting 5% for some (and sometimes qutie a few) of the purchases (that are part of the rotating catigories of course). With Discover it has always added up. I never use discover on anything that does not give me the 5% though.

Since I just recently got the Zync I mostly put the 1% purchases on it but I will eventually split them 50/50 between that and the freedom.

And as others have said shopdiscover is AMAZING. One thing I will note though. If you are booking through travelocity or orbitz-- use chase ultimate rewards and you will get I believe 2 extra points per dollar on top of the normal 1 per dollar even on flights. Discover doesn't give you extra points for flights only.

Re: Advice on Freedom/Discover More

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:31:24 GMT

I can't wait for the discover more, only 3 and a half weeks left until I apply. Have been using my Cap 1 exclusively for the past 6 months. At first I was a little worried what would happen if I am approved and Capital one sees that I am cheating on them with another card but from reading these posts it looks like having banks compete for you is a good thing. Maybe I'll luck out and they will send me a pre approval offer for the Venture since that is my ultimate goal.

Would be perfect timing for my Discover as later this spring I need new tires and brakes on my car and it would be great to have a 0% intro APR to ease the pain of mechanic bills over several months.

I have used a debit card for almost 6 years going through college, now I definitely love my big banks and credit cards.

Re: Advice on Freedom/Discover More

bostonte — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:43:12 GMT

If I had both cards, I would use Discover for gas and save the Freedrom for Amazon. If/when you reach the cap on the Discover, switch your gas to the Freedrom if you haven't already hit that cap with Amazon.

That is unless you plan on seeing a lot of movies... a whole lot of movies. Then you might want to do it the other way. :/