Update: This offer is expired.

Discover has upped their ante lately, and is starting to more aggressively compete in the credit card market. They have instituted many positive changes in direct response to the competition.

They are now only marketing the Discover it card. This card comes in 3 different versions.

1. Discover it 14 – 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for the first 14 moths.
2. Discover it 6/18 – 0% APR on purchase for the first 6 months and 0% APR on balance transfers for the first 18 months
3. Discover it Student – 0% APR on purchases for the first 6 months.

They no longer promote the Discover More, Motiva, Open Road, Escape, and Miles cards.

One of the great benefits of the Discover it card is the 5% cash back categories. This is similar to the Chase Freedom card.

You can now activate the Discover it card 2nd quarter 5% cash back categories. Quarter 2 (April-June 31) cash back categories are Home Improvement Stores, Furniture Stores, and Bed Bath & Beyond. You can earn 5% cash back per dollar on up-to $1,500 spend per quarter.

You can also earn 5% cash back at a slew of other merchants including Amazon! Here’s how: You can buy gift cards to other merchants at Home improvement stores.  For example, Lowe’s sells a slew of merchant gift cards such as to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Marriot, Kohl’s, Marshall’s and many more. These gift cards can then be used throughout the year, and you’ve maximized your 5% cash back and have essentially saved 5% at those merchants. Of course you can also by Bed Bath & Beyond gift cards for future purchases etc;.

Full Discover it credit card highlights:

• 5% cash back on rotating categories. This is an awesome feature. You’ll get 5% cash back on rotating categories each quarter. From April to June 2014, you’ll get 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in purchases in Home Improvement Stores, Furniture Stores, and Bed Bath & Beyond.
• 1% cash back on all other purchases. This is nice, though not nearly as nice as the Barclaycard Arrival.
  
• Free FICO score every month. You get a free real FICO score, not FAKO, updated every month, shown on your billing statement.
• No annual fee, No overlimit fee and also No late fee on your first late payment, and paying late won’t raise your APR.
• 0% Intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for the first 14 months via this link or 0% Intro APR on balance transfers for the first 18 months via this link –  Afterwards the variable purchase APR applies, currently 10.99% – 22.99%.  A fee of 3% applies for each balance transferred.
• No Foreign Transaction Fees – If you travel overseas every so often and don’t want to pay the 3% foreign transaction fee that most other credit cards charge – The Discover IT is for you. It can lay around until you are ready to travel without charging any fees.
• Up To 20% Cash back via the Discover Shopping Portal –  You can make many of your online purchases through Discover’s shopping portal and get an extra 5%-20% cash-back on your purchase! – Nothing to sneeze for a fee free card.
• FREE Collision car rental insurance – This card gives you Free Collision insurance on car rentals – including in Israel for up-to 25,000 in damage.
• Human. 100% U.S.-based customer service available any time.  Instead of a complicated robot phone tree (think citi), you can now select at any time to go straight to a human.
• Return Protection and Extended Warranty Protection.

Additionally, Discover sends out throughout the year targeted promotions to it’s cardholders for additional cash back opportunities.

The cash back on this card can be redeemed in the form of a statement credit, direct deposit to your bank account, gift cards or you can shop at Amazon and pay with your points. When redeeming your points for gift cards, discover many times has promotions where they offer you a bonus on your redemption.

If you do have one of the old plain Discover cards or Discover ‘more’ cards, you may want to call Discover up, and request that your card get switched over to the Discover it card, as this card is definitely better over the old ones (when switching over, you still get to keep the same card number and your credit history). On the other hand, If you have one of those Discover annual fee miles-type cards, it may be worth it for you to keep your card/s, though there’s nothing stopping you from getting the Discover it card in addition.

Bottom line: While Discover has still got a way to go to compete fully with the likes of American Express, Chase and Citi, this card without doubt has some pretty nice benefits. It offers a nice 5% cash back on rotating categories, up to a whopping 20% cash-back through the shopping portal, no foreign transaction fees and and no annual fee!
It is definitely a worthwhile addition to your wallet, though it probably shouldn’t be the only card in your wallet.