Discover Miles Credit Card Review

The Miles by Discover® is a travel rewards card, as you can probably tell from the name. It allows you to earn double miles on purchases up to $3000 in travel-related purchases and one-point-per-dollar for general purchases. The miles you earn with Discover Miles don’t expire and there’s no cap on the number of miles that can be earned on the card.  The Miles card also has additional perks including the opportunity to amass numerous bonus rewards in the first year of card activation.

Flexible Travel Rewards

Similar to the Blue Sky card, Discover Miles lets you use your rewards across different airline carriers, hotel chains, and rental car companies.  Unless you always fly the same airline or stay in the same hotel, this is one of the top benefits of the card in my opinion.

There are other rewards programs that let you earn miles or points when booking travel but some of them require that you use a specific website to find and pay for your trip.  Of course the potential downside of being limited to a specific portal is that if you can find the ticket or hotel cheaper through some other site like Priceline or Kayak, then the rewards you earn don’t make up for the higher price of the ticket.

With the Discover Miles card you don’t have to worry about what airline you fly, which hotel you sleep in, or who you book your travel through – you still earn rewards regardless.

Discover Miles Rewards

You don’t get the most out of the Miles card by using it for everyday purchases.  You earn a mile for every dollar you put on the card, which isn’t anything out of the ordinary for a rewards card. The biggest benefits come from the double rewards categories and the card bonuses. 

The double rewards are in the travel and dining categories of purchases and earn you 2 miles for every dollar you spend in a year, up to $3000.  Although there is no limit on the amount of total annual rewards you can earn, after the first $3000 of purchases the double rewards categories go back to earning 1 mile per dollar.

There is one other way to earn double rewards on your spending, from purchases made through the ShopDiscover portal.  This may not mean a whole lot to you unless you regularly shop at one of the comapanies that’s part of their ShopDiscover program.  Members who login and shop online through this program earn 2 miles for each dollar put on the card.  Discover does have a big list of nationally know companies in their program, such as Sears, ACE Hardware, Apple, Gap, HP, Old Navy, Office Depot, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Home Depot, Kohls, JC Penney, and many others.

If you already shop at any of these stores then you could earn double miles on your purchases with the Miles card.

Card Bonus Offer

Unlike most other travel rewards cards, the Discover Miles Card offers 1,000 bonus miles a month if the card is used at least once a month, for the first year you have the card.  There are other Discover and Chase cards that will give you a cashback bonus just for using the card, but they usually require a minimum of $500–750 dollars of purchases in the first few months. 

With the Miles card you can get the bonus for a whole year, just by buying a pack of gum once a month. The only other card I know of with a bonus with such low requirements is the Discover Escape card, which actually makes a similar bonus offer but extends it for 2 years instead of 1.

Redeeming Discover Miles Rewards

For every 10,000 miles you earn Discover makes you eligible for a $100 travel credit on your Miles card.  So going back to the bonus I just mentioned, those 12,000 miles are worth $120 towards a flight or hotel.

Since you choose how to travel and how to buy your ticket, you don’t have to worry about blackout dates or other restrictions when you go to redeem your rewards.  If your purcase is travel related then it’s eligible to recieve the travel credit.  After you pay for the rental car, airline ticket, or hotel room you can call up Discover or go through their websiteto submit the purchase and have your travel credit applied to it. Make sure you redeem your miles within 3 months of making the purchase otherwise you’ll have to wait and use your rewards on the next travel you buy.

Discover does offer several other ways to redeem your rewards:

• Gift cards at over 90 merchants (minimum 1000) points
• $25 Discover Gift Card for every 5000 points earned
• Cash back starting at 5000 points
• Charitable donation starting at 5000 points

Although those options are avaibable to you, the best rewards for your money comes from using them on travel with this card.  If you’d like to get the cashback or gift cards instead then you’d probably be better off with a cash back card.

Discover Miles Benefits

In addition to rewards points, the Discover Miles Card offers $500,000 in travel accident insurance. This card also offers enhanced fraud protection with a $0 Fraud Liability Guarantee that promises you won’t be responsible for any unauthorized usage of your card. The fraud protection feature is on most cards these days but still something you should check for this era of frequent identity theft.

No Annual Fee

There is no annual fee on this credit card. The lack of an annual fee is significant, as most travel rewards cards do charge an annual fee – some of which can be very steep, offsetting the gains from a better rewards program. 

Discover Miles does offer an upgraded version of the card that charges an annual fee. What you get from the upgraded version is insurance coverage against:

• Rental car damage (no deductible)
• Lost or damaged luggage (Up to $2,500)
• Travel Delays ($150 daily lodging)
• Trip cancellation (Up to $2,500)

You’d have to compare the annual fee against the cost of buying travel insurance in a year to see if that version made sense for you.

Discover Miles APR

Like other Discover cards, the Miles Card typically has a lower APR than comparable cards and sometimes features a 0% introductory APR on purchases; see the chart below for details about current APR offers. Like many other credit cards the best rates will be available to the people with the best credit.

Conclusion

The Discover Miles Card is a good rewards credit card. The 1,000 a month bonus is only good for the first year of the card but it can kick into effect for very small purchases, which is definitely appealing.

You don’t need to spend $1000 to earn 1000 miles, so it is a good bet for frugal flyers. The card does have some unique travel rewards possibilities that frequent travelers will find attractive.

Finally, the fact that this card has no annual fee and is flexible about how you earn and redeem rewards adds to the appeal of the card. 

Related articles:

• Discover Motiva Credit Card Review
• Discover Student Credit Card Review
• Hilton HHonors Platinum Credit Card Review