Extra $500 cashback bonus for your Discover Card: varies by cardholder

I just received a letter from Discover with the following stipulations:

1) Call 1-866-645-1436 from January 1, 2010 to February 1, 2010 and let us know you'd like to stop using other cards and switch your spending to Discover.

2) Use Discover for all your purchases like groceries, gasoline, electronics as well as monthly bills like cell phone, internet and cable.

3) Earn an extra $500 CashBack Bonus - just for making $2,000 in purchases with your card in each month from February 2010 through June 2010. Remember, this is in addition to the CashBack Bonus you can earn every time with your card.

Seems like a great deal for those that have >$2,000 / month in expenditures that accept credit cards. I only have about $1,000 worth of bills per month that I could pay with a credit card, and even then I would have to switch my current payment methods to Discover. If somebody already spends that much every month or can think of a way to make additional charges (without spending more money), this might be a great way to make an easy $500.

Edit: It looks like in order to qualify for this deal, you must have been sent a letter. They will verify by ssn if you call. Also, the CashBack amount and minimum monthly purchase vary.

Assuming its targeted?

Damn that's pretty hawt, was it an email or a paper letter?... Must be targeted?

Anyone else get it, or anyone know the fine print?

Yoksel said: While it looks great at the first glance, it's not that hot of a deal. You actually have to charge 10K and you'll get $500 back so it's 5% on top of their normal CashBack bonus. And you have to make sure you're spending 2K/month no matter what. I agree, seeing as you can walk into any bank and get a 5% yield on a 5 month CD....

Yoksel said: You actually have to charge 10K and you'll get $500 back so it's 5% on top of their normal CashBack bonus.What card do you have that pays more than this offer?

Not that I am goging to do it but AMEX giftcards may be an option to meet that cap. Plus there is some CashBack on them as well .

Rorer714 said: Yoksel said: You actually have to charge 10K and you'll get $500 back so it's 5% on top of their normal CashBack bonus.What card do you have that pays more than this offer? You would have to use multiple cards, check the CashBack thread. Chase freedom = 5% on utils, CitiForward = 5% on Amazon + restaraunts, multiple 5% gas cards... The upside being you don't have to spend 10,000 and you won't have to fight for it.

I can see discover fighting you for this, I end up calling them for almost 50% of all big cashbacks because they never credit me.

In fact, many of us are probably still carrying the 0% for life balance on our Discover cards. And the only reason I would even consider doing this deal is because the Credit Card act is going into effect in February and will allow to repay your purchase balance before your 0% balance. Otherwise you'd end up paying interest on all 10K you have to spend over the course of 5 months.

Good luck. I'm still trying to get my $100 CashBack bonus for getting a More card back in July. You'd think I was dealing with Citibank - sheesh...

Definitely a targeted offer. My variant included a more measly $250 bonus if I spent $1500/month for Feb-Jun 2010.
That only works out to some 3.x% Cash Back.

To get to that level of spending, I'd have to cut back on my 6% gas/grocery/Drugstore, 5% Super WalMart, 5% dining and 3% elsewhere current Cash Back Visa/MC cards which makes it not worth the effort.

OP: recommend the thread title be altered to note the targeted nature of the offer.

loganj said: Definitely a targeted offer. My variant included a more measly $250 bonus if I spent $1500/month for Feb-Jun 2010.
That only works out to some 3.x% Cash Back.

To get to that level of spending, I'd have to cut back on my 6% gas/grocery/Drugstore, 5% Super WalMart, 5% dining and 3% elsewhere current Cash Back Visa/MC cards which makes it not worth the effort.

OP: recommend the thread title be altered to note the targeted nature of the offer.

What card do you have that gives 5% at a Super WalMart? I would imagine it's due to being coded as a supermarket, but I thought all issuers got rid of that loophole.

If you want to do it, KEEP THE PAPER FROM DISCOVER.

I'm still fighting for a 12K bonus miles for the new card opened in May 08. They refuse to give me the miles claiming that I applied with the no-bonus offer. When I sent them the printout (online application), they demanded PAPER FROM DISCOVER showing the bonus offer, and that "printout of online contents" is NOT evidence because "everybody can just print".

By some chance, would they ask you to close some/all of your other cards in order to get the bonus?

no chance - they told me they could offer me this if I opened a new account. But they told me of a promo I was not aware of i.e. feb 15th to apr 15th 0% on purchases

And just what planet has banks paying 5% on a 5 month CD these days? Lucky to get 1%. To get 5% you have to go out over 10 years on a callable cd.

Reaching $2000/month sound a little difficult for a family of 2 adults and/or 1/2 kids...but one can pay their rent using credit card, like my appartment community charges 3% fees for paying rent by credit card, if rent is $1000 you end up paying $150 for 5 months...however regular CashBack also comes at (may be) 1% for those $5000 ($1000 in rent for 5 months), which would recover your $50 (from $150 extra in fees)...after all these reaching $1000/month is not a big deal...all in all you end up making $400 at least...

~nV!

I received a 0% on purchases through July 31, 2010 until August 2010. Probably got it because I haven't used the card since I got my Citi Forward Card almost a year ago. Not bad, but not great

spender484 said: Indeed, what CC do you use to get 6% gas/grocery/Drugstore? Is this just a limited time promo 6% CashBack rate that expires in 6 months - or is it permanent rate? Thanks for sharing.
It's likely Citi Driver's Edge which doubles due to mileage. Citi doesn't offer this card anymore. Actually in the first year it paid 12%...

loganj said: Definitely a targeted offer. My variant included a more measly $250 bonus if I spent $1500/month for Feb-Jun 2010.
That only works out to some 3.x% Cash Back.

To get to that level of spending, I'd have to cut back on my 6% gas/grocery/Drugstore, 5% Super WalMart, 5% dining and 3% elsewhere current Cash Back Visa/MC cards which makes it not worth the effort.

OP: recommend the thread title be altered to note the targeted nature of the offer.

What card pays 3% everywhere? Highest I've ever seen is 2% (since ~2000).

Glad to still have the Chase Rewards 5% gas/grocery/Drug card. Think they haven't converted it to Freedom yet because I already have one of those

I received an offer in the mail to receive a $225 CashBack bonus just for making $1,500 in purchases with your card in each month from March 2010 through May 2010.

That seems to be a 5% bonus, if I can nail the $1,500 limit on the nose. I would just hate to be stuck with some CashBack in my account that I couldn't cash out because of their incremental requirements. I'm also having a hard time justifying the reshuffle of all my cards, but I figure I can always stock up on Costco giftcards if I needed to hit the limit.

TheMeliorist said: Yoksel said: While it looks great at the first glance, it's not that hot of a deal. You actually have to charge 10K and you'll get $500 back so it's 5% on top of their normal CashBack bonus. And you have to make sure you're spending 2K/month no matter what. I agree, seeing as you can walk into any bank and get a 5% yield on a 5 month CD....

Isn't that analogy incorrect in this case? Unless you are inferring that someone is purchasing 2K exactly of some item they can get equivalent cash value for.

Wouldn't the better explanation be: there is no credit card giving you 5% Cash Back over a 5 month period on all spending.

For your analogy to work, one would have to be able to keep the principal (2K) that they "spent" and get 5% Cash Back from Discover. Now that would really be a sweet deal....