@Anonymous wrote:
@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I dont think the discover IT miles is restricted to travel whatsoever.
"
Redeem Miles: Starting at 1 Mile, you can redeem for cash as a electronic deposit to your bank account or for a credit for Travel Purchases on your statement made within in last 180 days. Travel Purchases include airline tickets, hotel rooms, car rentals, travel agents, online travel sites and commuter transportation. Redemption may not be available for approximately 24-48 hours if your card is reported lost or stolen. See Miles Terms and Conditions for details.
Miles Never Expire: we will credit your account with your rewards balance if your account is closed or has not been used in 18 months. See Miles rewards terms and conditions."
Right. Starting at 1 Mile, you can redeem for cash as a electronic deposit to your bank account -or- you can redeem for a credit for travel purchases.
So you can redeem for cash. No travel purchase required. Yes, you can alternatively redeem for a credit for travel purchases. But that's merely an option (a generally unfavorable one, in my opinion).
Chris.
Right, I have had the card for 11.5 months (oh oh, getting ready to apply for one in my wife's name!) and I believe I have commented earlier that the "redeeming miles" makes 0 sense, you can choose to erase a restricted set of purchases, or you can get cash for everything, at exactly the same rate! I would guess that originally they were planning to do an Arrival/Venture sort of thing, where cash redemption was at a lower rate, but that didn't happen, so we are left with 1.5/3% on travel or, if you prefer 1.5/3% on everything... Seems silly indeed.
Re Discover Deals: as discussed this is a real restriction. The Discover Deals on the normal card are much more wide ranging and include percentage offers (get 10% back on purchases made at...., ) whereas the Miles card tends to be more like Amex deals, spend $X and get $Y back, at a much more limited set of stores.
Go to say cashbackmonitor.com and see all the listings for Discover. You won't find most of them on the Miles card.
So, apart from that, why not much love? It depends on your spend. If you don't spend a lot, the extra over a 2% card doesn't make up for the lack of a bonus. e.g. you would have to spend $20K in the first year to make up for not getting a $200 bonus. And you have to wait a year to get the extra 1.5% Since I MS on the card that isn't an issue, but I am waiting for next month to make sure I really get the bonus!
The other part is the some sizeable fraction of MyFico want cards for the "long term", so getting something that works for only a year isn't of interest. In the dynamic world of credit cards, I think such a view is not all that sensible, but whatever.
