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Discover More Card vs Chase Freedom

Picture of Item Reviewed

Editor's Rating:
Intro Purchase APR Regular APR Intro Balance Transfer Annual Fee Credit Needed
N.A. $0* Excellent
Executive Summary - Two very similar cards in terms of how you earn rewards. Both these cards would fall under the rotating category cash back credit card category. But they are also different in some subtle but significant ways. We'll explore these here in this part of the review.

The closest competitor to the Discover More Card is the Chase Freedom. They are very similar in many ways, yet different. If you are researching this card, you would have also come across Chase. Here is how they are similar.
 

  • Discover and Chase Have Rotating Categories
    • - Both these cards have rotating categories. They both rotate quarter (ie the expense items change every quarter). You earn 5% cash back when you use your card on these items. They both cap you off at $1,500 in quarterly spending on these items.

    They both have different expenses categories, and they change every quarter and year as well.

  • They both have online shopping portals
    • - Both cards allow you to earn extra rebates from shopping with their online portal. Discover's portal is shopdiscover.com, while Chase is from their Ultimate Rewards Mall. We recently did a survey on credit card issuers online shopping portal. And the we can say that there are significant differences between these two.

    Discover has less merchant partners, the cash back you earn is higher overall. The minimum cash back you get from shopping online with their partners is 5%. Chase has more partners, but they rebates start at 2%.


But there are some differences between them as well.
 

  • Pure Cash Back vs Hybrid
    • - The Discover More Card is a pure cash back card. But you are also given the opportunity to redeem you cash back for gift cards instead. As we have explained earlier, you can exchange you cash back for more than the value of the gift cards (up to double depending on the gift card partner).

    With the Chase Freedom, you earn points and they can be redeemed for either cash back or any products from their Ultimate Rewards catalog.

  • Discover has tiered formula
    • - While the way they allow consumers to earn rewards is similar, Discover has a tiered system for up to the first $3,000 in annual spend. So in this sense, it loses out to Chase.

  • Discover Has No Foreign Transaction Fee
    • - All Discover Cards have no foreign transaction fees. The Chase Freedom does charge a 3% FX transaction fee if you use the card abroad.

  • Discover Provides Virtual Account Numbers When You Shop Online
    • - This is a rare feature (and expensive for issuers to undertake) that provides extra security when you shop online as you will be given a virtual number each time you shop. No Chase card has this feature at all.


Now that we have compared these two close rivals, let's look at how it stacks up against a non-rotating category card.

Table Of Contents
1. Introduction: What Type of Card Is It? 2. 5% Cash Back Rotating Categories 3. ShopDiscover.com - List of Retail Merchant Partners 4. Gift Card Partners 5. vs Chase Freedom 6. vs Blue Cash Everyday 7.Is the Discover More A good card? 8. Balance Transfer Details
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