Review of the Discover Motiva Card

The Discover Motiva Card was last reviewed on 20th December 2007

Summary - The Discover® Motiva Card is an improvement over the regular Discover More Card (formerly Discover Platinum Card). In addition to the features offered by the Discover Platinum Card, the Motiva Card will give cardholders a cash bonus if you pay your minimum bills for six consecutive months. The bonus you will get will be the finance charges the following month after six consecutive of on time monthly payments. Let's explore this card in further detail.

Pay-On-Time Bonus - The Motiva Card has a Pay-On-Time Bonus which works like this. If you pay on time the minimum payment for six consecutive months, on the following month, you will get a bonus that is equal to that months finance charges. So essentially twice a year, you can earn a pay-on-time bonus and get back two months of finance charges.

Rebate Formula - In addition to The Discover Motiva Card is a tiered cash back credit card. You can potentially earn up to 2% rebate. Here is how it works. The tiered cash back formula is based on your annual expenditure. For the first $1,500 in annual expenditure, you earn 0.25%. For the next $1,500 in annual expenditure (ie $1,500 to $3,000), you earn 0.50% rebate. Once your annual expenditures exceed $3,000, you earn 1% rebate. You can earn unlimited rebates which do not expire.

5% to 20% Discount on Discover's Online Store - Cardholders can also get discounts (5% to 20%) on shop discover online.

Double the value of your rebates - The other great feature of the Discover Motiva 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 their present partners.

Restaurants
Bennigan's
Black Angus/Cattle Company Steakhouse
Bonanza Steakhouse
Buca di Beppo
Chili's Grill & Bar®
Maggiano's Little Italy®
On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina®
Ponderosa Steakhouse
Red Lobster
Romano's Macaroni Grill®
Steak & Ale

Home
Ace Hardware
Bed Bath & Beyond®
Bedroom Expressions
Big City Chefs
Callaway Golf
Cooking.com
Crutchfield
Denver Mattress Co.
Furniture Row Outlet
K B Toys
Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet™ Grills
Lawn-Boy
Oak Express
Pep Boys
Pier 1 Imports
The Sharper Image®
Sofa Mart
Sprint
Staples®

Entertainment
AMC Theatres®
BLOCKBUSTER®
BLOCKBUSTER Online®
Borders Books & Music®
Fandango
Great American Days
Hollywood Video
Reader's Digest
TicketsNow.com
Waldenbooks®

Gifts
Ethel M Chocolates
FTD.COM®
Lobster Gram®
M&M's World
Mrs. Fields
Omaha Steaks

Travel
Carnival® Cruise Lines
Celebrity Cruises®
Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Holland America
Hyatt® Hotels & Resorts
Norwegian Cruise Line
Princess Cruises
Royal Caribbean® International
Samsonite® Company Stores

Electronic Certificates
Big City Chefs
BLOCKBUSTER Online®
Callaway Golf
Cooking.com
Crutchfield
Enterprise Rent-A-Car
FTD.COM®
Fandango
Great American Days
Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet™ Grills
L.L. Bean
Mrs. Fields
Omaha Steaks
Ultra Diamond Outlet

Charities
American Red Cross
Junior Achievement
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
Make-A-Wish Foundation®

Fees and Rates - The Discover More Card has no annual fee. The APR ranges from 10.99% to 18.99%. You also get a 3.9% APR on balance transfer for 12 months for balance transfer and 6 months for purchases. The grace period on purchases is 25 days, more than the standard 20 days used by most credit cards. The average daily balance method is used to calculate monthly balances.

Important Discover Card Features - Discover Cards allow you to download your credit card statements to Quicken and Microsoft's Money. You can also change your statement bill due date to match your other credit cards.

Verdict - I think the Discover® Motiva Card is a great card for those who carry a balance and pay on time. That is because twice a year, you will get the pay-on-time bonus which equals two months of finance charges. You also get all the benefits of the Discover cash back program and the ability to exchange cash rebates for a higher value in gift cards.

Positives