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Discover® Business Card Review
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The Discover® Business Card was last reviewed on : 26th June 2008
Summary - The Discover® Business Card will appeal to the small business owner who is looking for a cash rebate business credit card. You can earn 5% rebates on office supply purchases and 2% rebates on gasoline purchases. There are a few details in the rebate formula that you should be aware of. So read on to find out more about this card.
Rebate Formula - Office Supplies and Gasoline - The Discover® Business Card has a tiered rebate formula. For your first $1,200 of annual spending on office equipment and supplies, you will earn 5% rebates. For your first $1,200 in gasoline purchases, you will earn 2% rebates. Once your spending on these two category of items exceed the $1,200 threshold, you will earn the same rebates as your "other purchases", which has its own formula. Let us look at that next.
Rebate Formula for "other purchases" - For other purchases, you earn 0.25% rebates when you annual spending is below $5,000. Once your annual spending exceeds $5,000 you earn 1% rebates. Purchases made on office supplies and gasoline count towards the $5,000 threshold. You can earn unlimited rebates.
Double the value of your rebates - The other great feature of the Discover® Business Card is that you can up to double the value of the cash rebates you have earned by exchanging them for the 60+ merchant partners gift certificate. That means that a $20.00 rebate can turn into a $40.00 gift certificate. Below is the list of some their partners.
Double Your Rewards with these Partners
| Bedroom Expressions |
Kalamazoo Outdoor |
| Big City Chefs |
GourmetTM Grills |
| Carnival Cruise Lines |
Lawn Boy |
| Celerity Cruises |
Lobster Gram |
| Crabtree & Evelyn |
Mrs. Fields |
| Denver Mattress |
Norwegian Cruise Line |
| FTD.COM® |
Princess Cruises |
| Furniture Row Outlet |
Reader's Digest |
| Great American Days |
Royal Caribbean® |
| Holland America |
International |
| Hollywood Video® |
Samsonite® Company Stores |
| Hyatt® Hotels & Resort |
The Sharper Image |
| Sofa Mart |
Sprint |
| Ticketsnow.com |
Ultra Diamond Outlet |
Teurn $20 Rebates into $30 Gift Certificates
| BLOCKBUSTER® |
M&M's World |
| BLOCKBUSTER Online |
Omaha Steaks |
| Ethel M Chocolates |
Rhapsody |
| Sunglass Hut |
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Turn $20 Rebates into $25 Gift Certificates
| AMC Theatres |
Champs Sports |
Men's Wearhouse |
| Ace Hardware |
Crutchfield |
Pep Boys |
| Bed Bath & Beyond® |
Eddie Bauer |
Pier 1 Imports |
| Bennigan's |
Fandango |
Ponderosa Steakhouse |
| Black Angus/Cattle Company |
Footaction |
Red Lobster |
| Steakhouse |
Foot Locker |
Sally Beauty |
| Bonanza Steakhouse |
Gap |
Staples |
| Borders Books & Music® |
L.L.Bean |
Steak & Ale |
| Buca® di Beppo |
Lands' End® |
Waldenbooks® |
Turn $40 Rebates into $50 Gift Certificates
| Ace Hardware |
Gap |
Pier 1 Imports |
| Callaway Golf |
L.L.Bean |
Red Door Spa |
| Cooking.com |
Lands' End® |
Sunglass Hut |
| Crutchfield |
Mario Tricoci |
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| Eddie Bauer |
NASCAR.com |
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Turn $40 Rebates into $45 Gift Certificates
| Chili's Grill & Bar® |
On The Border Mexican Grill |
| Kohl's |
& Cantina® |
| Maggiano's Little Italy® |
Red Lobster |
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Romano's Macaroni Grill® |
Charity Donations - add 20% - Discover will add 20% to the following charities if you choose to donate your cash rebates. They are the American Red Cross, Junior Achievement, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Make-A-Wish Foundation®.
Special Merchants Discount - Discover gives the business cardholders special discounts to various merchants. Below is a sample of what you may get
Barnes and Nobles - 7% cash back
Overstock.com - 5% discount
FTD.com - 20% cash back or discount.
Purchase Checks - The Discover® Business Card allows you to write checks (called purchase checks) to business suppliers who do not accept credit cards. Your interest rate will be the APR on the card. There is no fee for this service.
Other Discover® Business Card Services - Discover also offers the following services to cardholders. You get free annual and quarterly reports. Your statements for the last 12 months can be viewed online and sorted by categories and employees. You can also transfer your expenses into Quickbooks.
Verdict - For a small business owner to get the most out of a cash back business credit card, you will have to look at your own expenses and how they breakdown. This is because different business cash rebate cards offer 2-5% rebates on different business purchases. If you spend less than $1,200 in offices and supplies and gasoline, and would like the flexibility of exchanging your rebates for gift certificates instead, then the Discover® Business Card would be a very appropriate card for you. The 0% apr offer on purchases for 12 months may also appeal to those in need of some lines of credit for capital expenditure purposes.
Positives Up to double the value of your rebatesNo annual fee*25 day grace period for purchasesEarn unlimited rebates5% cash rebate on office supplies for first $1,200 in annual spendingEarn 2% rebates for first $1,200 in gasoline purchases
Negatives Tiered rebate system - can only earn 5% and 2% rebates on office supplies and gasoline purchases for spending on these items of up to $1,200
| Rebate Percentages |
Earn 5% cash rebate first $1,200 in office and supplies purchases Earn 2% rebates on first $1,200 in gasoline purchases For "other purchases", earn 0.25% rebates for annual spending below $5,000, earn 1% rebates once annual spending exceeds $5,000 |
| Introductory rate |
0% introductory APR on purchases for 12 months* 3.99% APR on balance transfers for 6 months* |
| Annual Fee |
No annual fee* |
| Purchase APR |
13.99%* |
| Balance Transfer APR |
13.99%* |
| Cash Advance APR |
23.99%* |
| Penalty/Default Rate APR |
24.24%* |
| Min Finance Charge |
$0.50* |
| Grace Period |
25 days* |
| Balance Calculation Method |
Average daily balance (including new purchases)* |
| Balance Transfer fee |
3% min $5.00, max $75.00* |
| Cash Advance fee |
3% min $5.00* |
| Over-the-credit-limit fee |
None on balances of $1,000 or less; $39 on balances greater than $1,000* |
| Late Payment fee |
None on balances up to $100; $39 on balances of $100 and greater.* |
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Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by American Express. Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of American Express, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by American Express. This site may be compensated through American Express Affiliate Program.
Disclaimer 2: Though we may be affiliated with some credit card issuers, our credit cards reviews and the content on this site is written solely by us and are not influenced in any shape or form by any credit card issuers. In fact, any content here is copyrighted and cannot be reproduced elsewhere without permission. Though we make every attempt to make sure that our content is up to date. But please always check the terms and conditions for the most updated information since things like APR change fairly often.
*See the online application for details about terms and conditions for these offers. Every reasonable effort has been made to maintain accurate information. However all credit card information is presented without warranty. After you click on the offer you desire you will be directed to the credit card issuer's web site where you can review the terms and conditions for your selected offer. *See the online application for details.
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