While other banks are raising their rates, putting on additional annual fees, and sticking us with higher minimums due before the new 2010 laws come into play Discover card is hitting us in another body part. Discover Card is coming out with letters to their card holders who have the Gas version of their Get More cards and changing the terms to say it’s basically not the gas card you signed up for.
Discover is virtually becoming a useless card now that they have switched from 5% on gas rewards and maintenance to a measly 2%. They also raised their minimum earlier this year to get cash back at $50 instead of the $20 it used to be. Now you basically have to go through a partner such as Starbucks to get the award earlier or you could wait all year long to get that $50 with the way they are taking away our rewards.
Discover plans to change the cash back to 2% on gas and maintenance purchases starting in January. So basically you have until the end of 2009 to get your $100 worth of gas per month and get 5% in cash back which is not really much. I almost think the new plan is better because we spend more money at restaurants than on gas anyway. We eat more than we feed our car. Discover plans to add restaurants at 2% but other cards pay more for eating out such as the Chase Freedom card which is 3% if you use it most for that category. They did raise the maximum per month to be $250 over the ridiculous $100. I mean $100 is two car fill-ups for me if I get a car wash. But the most insulting point is here…
If you examine this more closely you will find that you get the same amount in rewards at $5 a month but having to spend $250 to get to that level with restaurant and gas purchases. You spent less before at the capped $100 a month to get $5 in rewards a month on gas purchases.
The best thing to do is to re-evaluate your Discover Open Road Card and turn it into a money making card again. The tip here is to turn this gas guzzling card into a Discover More Card. Either apply here on this site or call the number on the back of your card and do it. You will not want to close any cards first because it is bad on your credit to cancel cards before new credit is issued. Make sure you use the existing card credit you have on your Open Road card to get this new More Card.
Find out what the Discover More Card can do for you that your Open Road Card and others do not.
