Discover $50 – $100 Bonus
I spent some time last week chatting with a Discover rep about the Discover 25,000 Bonus Miles offer to clarify the math. When I explained to him what I was doing, he suggested an even better card for readers! Talk about great customer service!
So this week, for Free Money Friday, we’ll feature the (even better) Discover Miles card.
Discover is offering 12,000 bonus miles, which you can convert to a statement credit, for using the Discover Miles Card.
How to Get Your $50 Bonus
- Open a new Discover Miles Card.
- Earn 10,000 bonus miles by making one purchase each month for the first 10 months (1,000 bonus miles each month).
- Promotional miles will be applied within 8 weeks.
- Redeem 10,000 miles for a $50 account credit or have it electronically deposited into your bank account.
How to Get Your $100 Bonus
- Earn the miles in the same manner above.
- Use your card to purchase any travel on any airline, cruise, vacation package, hotel or car rental.
- Redeem 10,000 miles for a $100 travel credit to your account within 90 days after the purchase posts to your account.
More About the Miles
Annual Fee. There is no annual fee.
Extra Bonus Miles. You can actually earn 12,000 bonus miles if you use the card each month for the first 12 months. I used 10,000 in my example, because you can redeem them in 5,000 increments.
Miles for Purchases. In addition, to the bonus miles, you earn 2 miles for each dollar you spend on your first $3,000 in combined travel and restaurant purchases each year and 1 mile for each dollar above that and all other purchases.
Miles Never Expire.
Flexible Redemption. Because you don’t actually have to use the miles to book a flight, you can easily use your card for a business trip, or take the kids to a hotel overnight to get your $100!
I looked at several travel rewards credit cards recently, and I went with the Discover Miles.
The reason is that the others all seemed to have mile thresholds where you could redeem your miles for a ticket valued UP TO a certain amount (such as $400). I didn’t like this system as it seemed like I’d be looking for a ticket priced right at the threshold just to get my money’s worth.
I’d rather have the flexibility to find the cheapest flight and have the reward applied to my account ($50, $100, etc.).
I’m not eligible for the bonus miles promotion since I transferred my account from the “Open Road” program, but the 2% on travel and restaurants will be nice as the Chase Freedom card does not have a 3% category for either of these (they do have a “fast food” category I believe).
I tried applying for the Discover card, but I’m too young (insufficient credit history) and have too many student loans for their liking. Oh well. Maybe it will still be around in a couple years!