Miles by Discover® Card Review

Summary - The Miles by Discover® Card perhaps one of the best no annual fee travel rewards card in the market today. It is however, in a pretty competitive market space with most major credit card issuer having similar reward cards. Despite this, it stacks up pretty well. Let dig into this card in greater detail.

Miles Formula - The Miles By Discover® Card allows the cardholder to earn one miles for every dollar spent on the card. For the first $3,000, you can earn double miles when you use your card for travel and restaurant purchases. Travel purchases are those made on airline tickets, hotel rooms, car rentals, cruises, tour operators and vacation packages purchased through travel agents, including online purchases. Restaurant purchases are those made at merchants classified as full-service restaurants, cafes, cafeterias and fast food locations. Your miles will be used to credit the purchase you've made. This will appeal to those who want to earn reward points, but yet want the flexibility to do their own bookings rather than having to use the credit cards' in house travel agent and face the usual restrictions. With this method, there are no blackout dates or any restrictions. You can also use your miles to redeem gift certificates or cash rebates.

Bonus - For the first twelve months of your card membership, you will earn 1,000 bonus miles a month as long as you use your card. That means that you can earn up to 12,000 bonus miles during your first year.

Cost and Fees - The Miles By Discover Card has no annual fee*. You get a 0% Intro APR* for 6 months on Purchases and balance transfer.

These days, there are many credit cards that offer the ability to book any travel item you want through an online travel portal with no black out dates. Therefore, let's see how Discover Miles stacks up against it's peers.

Discover Miles vs Amex BLue Sky - The Amex Blue Sky also has a similar card to this. And the way it works is the same. But the Blue Sky gives slightly more value for their points. For Discover Miles (and most other card), 10,000 points gets you $100 in travel value. For Amex Blue Sky, you only need 7,000 points to get you $100 in reward value. You could argue that Discover might be slightly better because it was more widely accepted than Amex. But the Amex has a slight edge here in terms of reward value.

Discover Miles vs Chase Sapphire - The Chase Sapphire Card is Chase's no annual fee reward credit card. Like the Miles Card, you earn one point for every dollar that you spend on the card. BUt you get to earn double points if you book an airfare through Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal. Like this card, $1,000 points gets you $10 in value. These two cards are really nearly identical. The differences would be in the little details of their reward programs and online shopping portals. But as far as travel rewards go, they are nearly identical.

Discover Miles vs Citi ThankYou Preferred Card - The Citi ThankYou Preferred Card is the no annual fee reward card of Citi. The reward formula is the same (ie one point per dollar). The value of the rewards is also the same (ie 1,000 points is worth $10 in travel value). Citi's online travel portal is run by expedia.com. The issue with expedia.com is that they are not showing American Airline flights. Hence, you would be missing one piece of the puzzle. Citi also does not allow you to use points to book at other travel sites. Therefore, Discover is more flexible. In this showdown, Discover wins and is clearly better than Citi.
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Verdict - The Miles by Discover® Card will appeal to those who want to earn points for travel but yet want the flexibility to book their own travel itinerary rather than use the credit cards' own in-house travel agents. It faces stiff competition from other issuers with very similar features, but more than hold it's own. The one thing that distinguishes Discover is their excellent service. If this is something you value, then do not hesitate to get this card.

Positives

• No annual fee
• Can book your own travel and face no blackout dates or restrictions