FFGuru said:CLARIFICATION....

GOOD NEWS!! I asked Discover to clarify some of our questions from this forum. I told them that I would post their response at FW.com and here is the Discover response.

My questions
1) Is there a limit to how many times you can change rewards programs?
2) Once you leave one program, like gas, can you go back to it later in the year? What happens to the cap on how much you can earn in the program when you do that?
3) If in under a year I were to spend $1,500 on gas in the gas program, could I then switch to the restaurant program and have a full $1,500 in spending at 5% in that program.
4) Do the earning caps reset each calendar year, or 12 months from the time you start a program?
5) In general, is there any cap to the amount of Cash Back bonus you can earn if you keep switching programs?

Discover's answers.....



Thank you for your recent inquiry regarding Cash Back bonus.

To start answering some questions, 1) no, there is no limit to how many times you can change rewards programs. 2) Once you leave a program, lets say, from platinum to gas within your cycle period and return back to platinum your Cash Back bonus will pick up on the last tier level you left off on. 3) Yes, in fact you can switch through every reward program we have available. 4) It would reset depending on the month you opened your card. So every cardmember is different. 5) There is no cap in Cash Back bonus.

If you need anything else, just let me know. Thanks for choosing to use Discover Card.


Sincerely,

XXXXXX XXXXXXX
Web Support Specialist

Discover, Discover Deskshop, Discover 2GO, CashBack Bonus, and ShopCenter are our trademarks. All rights reserved. The specialist's answers seem very unclear....4) seems to indicate an annual reset (depending on the month, every cardholder is different). However a possibility is although earning caps reset every year, when you switch, there is an additional reset during the year. His response did not clarify this specifically.

His response to 3) and 5) was also unclear. It is already assumed we can switch from program to program, but "under a year" will we have another $1500? He did not specifically qualify his answer saying "under a year", just that switching in general is possible. His 5) no cap remark is also vague, while we're thinking $1500 cap for the 5% tier, his reply seems to be a general Cash Back cap for all tiers in any program.

z0mb13 said:how can you tell if you are about to approach your limit for any type of card? Can I check this out online?
Calculate the total of all your restaurant purchases
it's very easy if you use your card just for restaurants. Just add all your statment amounts for this year.

I called to switch back to the gas program, after a month long stint using the platinum card for the online get more promotion. The CSR said they have two gas programs. It was extremely confusing. But here is what I gathered from the information. Anyone correct me if you will.....

Both are reverse tier. The first one earns 5% on gas for your first $1,500 on TOTAL purchases, 3% on gas for your next $1,500 in TOTAL purchases, and then I forget. The other program earns 5% on gas for the first $1,200 on GAS purchases and then drops to 1% for gas after that I believe.

Can anyone clarifly? It appears to me that the second one will not penalize me for using my Discover for purchases other than gas, but I can't tell for sure. When do they start counting your TOTAL purchases? is that by anniversiary, or by the purchases while you are in the gas program only? I don't know which card is best for me. Thanks for your help!

alfonzo said:I just completed conversion of my Gas Rebate card to Restaurant Rebate. It was quick and easy over the phone. Seems like the only other card that gives restaurant rebate is the citiMTVu card for students. And since I already have 6 credit cards as a student, I'm waiting a little while to apply for that one.Well if you're a Costco member you can get the American Express TrueEarnings card that earns you 3% CashBack for restaurant purchases (and 2% CashBack for flights and hotels) with no caps. Useful when you happen to max out the cashbacks of both your Discover and mtvU cards.

chokaay said:poo said:suaveseattle said:I called to switch back to the gas program, after a month long stint using the platinum card for the online get more promotion. The CSR said they have two gas programs. It was extremely confusing. But here is what I gathered from the information. Anyone correct me if you will.....

Both are reverse tier. The first one earns 5% on gas for your first $1,500 on TOTAL purchases, 3% on gas for your next $1,500 in TOTAL purchases, and then I forget. The other program earns 5% on gas for the first $1,200 on GAS purchases and then drops to 1% for gas after that I believe.

Can anyone clarifly? It appears to me that the second one will not penalize me for using my Discover for purchases other than gas, but I can't tell for sure. When do they start counting your TOTAL purchases? is that by anniversiary, or by the purchases while you are in the gas program only? I don't know which card is best for me. Thanks for your help!

IIRC, the specialty cards have changed. They are now only 5% for the first $1500, then 1%. They got rid of the 3%. Both programs were probably listed for the CSR in the system. If you signed up before you will still get the 5%/3%/1% until your anniversary date, but after that you get transferred to the new 5%/1% only.


Hmmmmmmmmm... I was told that the tiers were:

5% = $0-$1500
0.5% = $1500-$3000
1% = $3000+

for the restaurant card, and:

5% = $0-$1200
0.25% = $1200-$1500
0.5% = $1500-$3000
1% = $3000+

for gas. Basically you get 5% for the first tier of your specialty catagory, then the tiers drop down as if they were any other purchase. Can anyone confirm it's 5%, then 1%? Is this only with the gas card?

Just checked discover.com and you are right. Check there for updated terms.

PROGRAM CAPS..... The rules have changed, some good changes, some bad. It seems that the maximum amount you can spend on gas with the 5% reward has dropped to $1,200. All programs got rid of the 3% tier, however you are no longer penalized for using your card on purchases outside of the area in which you earn 5%. Under the old rules, all purchases would count toward that $1,500 cap. The following all comes cut and paste from discovercard.com 12/17/05

GAS
"Each year, earn a full 5% on your first $1,200 starting December 1, 2005 on your gas purchases. In addition, earn a full 1% on other purchases in excess of $3,000; your first $1,500 in other purchases earn .25% and your second $1,500 in other purchases earn .50%. Gas purchases in excess of $1,200 earn CashBack Bonus at the same rate as other purchases."

HOME IMPROVEMENT
"Each year, earn a full 5% on your first $2,500 in home improvement purchases. In addition, earn a full 1% on other purchases in excess of $3,000; your first $1,500 in other purchases earn .25% and your second $1,500 in other purchases earn .50%. Home improvement purchases in excess of $2,500 earn CashBack Bonus at the same rate as other purchases."

RESTAURANTS
"Each year, earn a full 5% on your first $1,500 in restaurant purchases. In addition, earn a full 1% on other purchases in excess of $3,000; your first $1,500 in other purchases earn .25% and your second $1,500 in other purchases earn .50%. Restaurant purchases in excess of $1,500 earn CashBack Bonus at the same rate as other purchases."

PLATINUM
"Each year, earn a full 1% of each purchase made after your total amount of purchases exceeds $3,000; your first $1,500 in purchases earn .25% and your second $1,500 in purchases earn .50%........With our Get More Program, you can sign up to earn 5% CashBack Bonus on purchases made at select merchants or in certain merchant categories throughout the year."

FFguru said: <<All of your caps reset at your anniversary... NOT one year since you joined a specific program, but on the anniversary of when you got your Discover account. Assuming I understand what you mean by additional reset, according to several CSR's there is none. So, if in January you sign up for the gas card and spend $1,500 on gas, you can't switch to restaurants in Feb, and then back to gas in March again for another $1,500. You can go back and forth, but you must wait for your anniveriary for your caps to reset.>>

I guess my question is are you given another cap when you convert to another specialty card in the same anniversary period after using up the cap entirely for the first specialty card? I was using 'reset' to mean 'given another cap'. But being the caps have all changed, and each specialty card now has a different cap, it is fairly clear to me that when you switch, you are given the new cap and therefore have lengthened your 5% period which I believe was your original point.

tooshy said:
I guess my question is are you given another cap when you convert to another specialty card in the same anniversary period after using up the cap entirely for the first specialty card? I was using 'reset' to mean 'given another cap'. But being the caps have all changed, and each specialty card now has a different cap, it is fairly clear to me that when you switch, you are given the new cap and therefore have lengthened your 5% period which I believe was your original point.

Yes, you are given another cap. So if you max out one program within your anniveriary, you can switch to another and start from a whole new cap.

Again though, if you leave a program before you have maxed it out, and go back within the same anniversiary, you just pick up where you left out.

NEWS

It appears that the Restaurant and Home Improvement cards are no longer being offered at Discovercard.com. Discover is down to a measley and not very competative miles card,ok platinum card, low-limit gas card, and average student card. So that means that if it is still possible to switch, the only cards you can switch between is the basic platinum and gas card.

Hmmm, with all of the 5% offerings from Citi and Chase, Discover is really not being very competative. Let's hope they have a wonderful new program up there sleeves.

FFGuru said:...

Hmmm, with all of the 5% offerings from Citi and Chase, Discover is really not being very competative. Let's hope they have a wonderful new program up there sleeves.

From a company that is based around "It pays to Discover," I would hope so.