Changes to Discover Open Road Card
The Discover Open Road Card (former Discover Gas Card) will be changing it’s rebate policy slightly on gas purchases from October this year. At present, cardholders can earn 5% rebates on gasoline purchases at any station for up to the first $1,200 in annual gasoline purchases from with the card.
This will change in the following way from October 2007. You can still earn 5% rebates on gasoline purchase for the first $1,200 in gasoline spending. But each month, you can only earn 5% rebate for up to $100 in gasoline spending. Essentially, Discover is forcing cardholders to spread out the gasoline spending over 12 months. This will probably be difficult for many cardholders because it cost close to $50 to fill up many vehicles these days.
This is becoming an issue for credit card holders who want to earn 5% cash rebates for gasoline purchases. In the past, the Citi Dividend Platinum Select Card and the Chase Cash Plus Rewards Visa (now replaced by the Chase Freedom Card) gave cardholders a 5% rebates on gasoline purchases. The Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® Card now only pays 2% rebates on gasoline, supermarket and utility purchases, while the Chase FreedomSM Cash Visa® Card pays 3% cash rebates. The other card that pays 5% rebates on gasoline is the Blue Cash® from American Express . But you have to spend above $6,500 (in annual spending) before you can earn 5% rebates.
The best card now that lets you earn unlimited 5% rebates on gasoline purchases (without any limits or tiers) is the American Express SimplyCashSM Business Card. You not only 5% cash rebates on gasoline, but also on office supplies and wireless services. Yes, it is a business card. But you can apply for one as a sole proprietor. At present, this would be the card I would recommend to earn 5% rebates on gasoline spending.
July 9th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
This may make the card more trouble then it is worth, which was one of the reasons I switched away from the “Get More” program. For those who mostly use the card for the 5% rebate you will need to determine each month when you are close to the 100 limit. If you go over 100 in a month you will only earn .25%.
Another change with this card is that the first 1200 in gas and other auto related charges do not count to move you to the next tier. You will need to spend another 1500 to get to the .5% tier and another 1500 after that to get to the 1% tier.
Assuming at least 1200 in gasoline 4200 in spending will give you ~1.7% interest so it is still a fairly good rate. Of course anything above 4200 will get you 1%.
Over the past 5 years Discover has pulled back considerably from the great offers they once had. Claiming they offer double rewards is a joke.
March 3rd, 2008 at 6:54 pm
DATS THE BOMB BABY