You all know that I love my discover it credit card but it has been several years since we
did a proper review of this product so today let's breakdown everything that the discover
it credit card has to offer in 2022 to help you decide whether or not this product is
still worth it for your financial life.
Alright, let's jump right into it.
What is going on everyone I hope you are all having a fantastic day.
So when it comes to personal finance..everyone seems to have an opinion but there is one
thing that a majority of the community seems to agree upon and that is the fact that the
discover it credit card is probably the best beginner credit card option currently on the
market and it has been that way for years.
Obviously, you've got the Dave Ramsey crowd who says avoid credit cards at all costs and
you know that's cool too but if you are looking at either getting your first credit card or
maybe just adding another credit card to your lineup, the discover it is definitely a product
that you've probably stumbled upon..but is this product still worth it in 2022?
let's take a look.
For starters, the best part about this card is, of course, the fact that it has no annual
fee which is definitely not uncommon and there are lots of products that have no annual fee
but always a bonus that I like to mention.
Now they do have several different versions of this card which will take a look at in
a second but most commonly people get the standard discover it cash back rewards credit
card and that product is going to give you 5% cash back on different rolling categories
that change each quarter.
Now these categories don't always stay the same year to year but in 2022 they're giving
5% back at grocery stores and fitness clubs for the first quarter, 5% back at gas stations,
and target in the second quarter, third quarter is restaurants and PayPal which is pretty
awesome, and in the fourth quarter you’re going to earn 5% back at Amazon.com and on
your digital wallets.
So those categories are definitely different than when I first got this card a few years
ago but one thing that is super important to note about that 5% cash back is that it
is capped on up to $1500 in purchases each quarter which means the most you could possibly
earn each quarter would be $75 or $300 for the entire year which is still pretty great
but that is a fairly low spending cap so just keep that in mind.
Now outside of those rolling categories or if you go above that spending limit, you're
going to earn 1% unlimited cash back on everything else.
Again that's cool but there are a number of products nowadays that offer 2% unlimited
cash back on everything so 1% isn't that great but again this is a beginner product so the
fact that you get this amount of cash back at all is pretty sweet.
Perhaps the best feature that really put the discovery card on the map is the unlimited
dollar for dollar cash back match at the end of your first year and what that means is
say you earn $500 in cash back in your first year well then discover is going to give you
another $500 on top of that which is insane considering this is a free credit card.
As many of you know, they discover it card is the very first credit card that I ever
opened and I actually opened it on my 18th birthday and in that first year I earned about
$600 in cash back meaning at the end of that year discover put another $600 statement credit
onto my card so for that whole first year I earned $1200 in cash back and that was as
a broke college student at the time who really wasn't spending that much money on this card.
Essentially that means that in your first year you're getting a 10% cash back on those
rolling categories and 2% back on everything else.
Beyond those cash back rewards discover also has the $0 fraud liability guarantee meaning
if there is ever an unauthorized purchase on your Discover Card you are not responsible
for covering that purchase, discover also has the standard card freeze feature that
you can access right from within the app and they'll immediately replace your card and
Social Security monitoring alerts which again is free and included with your discover it
card.
They're also going to give you free credit score monitoring which is pretty easy to get
with a number of tools nowadays but if this is your first credit card that is a cool way
to see your credit score quickly go up and he fairly short period of time.
But perhaps the best feature about discover as a company that I have talked about time
and time again is their unbelievable US-based 24/7 customer support.
Look I literally review financial products for living meaning I have spent a lot of time
on the phone talking with a lot of financial companies and no one comes close to the customer
support that discover has.
Literally, if you need help with anything or have a question you can call the number
on the back of your card anytime any day, and a kind helpful friendly person will answer
the phone and get things sorted out for you.
Now, this isn't any personal concierge like the centurion black card but considering that
product cost you about $15,000 in the first year I think I'll stick with the free and
fantastic customer service from Discover.
One other thing I love about Discover is that the cash back that you earn is given to you
directly as cash and there are no points you don't have to redeem points for this or that
they just give you the cash and that's the end of it and that's really simple.
Now like I said earlier there are a million different versions of this card including
the standard cash back credit card that we just looked at but also the student cash back,
secured credit card, student Chrome, travel credit card, gas and restaurants version,
and even an NHL credit card.
We're not going to go through the different benefits of every single card because that
would take forever but they really do have you covered regardless of your financial situation
including those of you that are students plus to those of you watching who are students
you can actually input your GPA and if you have good grades they'll literally give you
20 bucks for free.
Like I mentioned they also have a secured card which if you're not familiar is basically
when you give them say $500 for example and they then give you a credit card that has
a limit of $500 and don't worry that it's just a security deposit so should you ever
decide to close this credit card or upgrade to one of the other options you will get that
full deposit back but a secured card is a great option if you have horrible credit history
or maybe even no credit history at all.
With that said, I will mention that when I was 18 and had absolutely no credit history
I was able to get the standard cash back credit card which may have just been a fluke but
there doesn't really seem to be any rhyme or reason to this so I'd say go ahead and
apply for the regular cashback version and if you get denied then you can always go for
the student or secured version as a backup.
The travel version of this card does give you unlimited 1.5 miles on every dollar you
spend but to be completely honest, I have no experience with how discovers travel site
works and what those points are actually worth so if you're that far into the credit card
game and you want to earn points and travel rewards and you're probably better off going
with a company like Chase or American Express.
Alright so now let's answer the big question of today's video, is the discover it credit
card still worth it in 2022.
I have a simple answer for you, yes…I mean what kind of question is that?
now if you already have established credit history and multiple credit cards then this
is probably not the product for you but like I mentioned at the beginning of the video
everyone in the personal finance community seems to agree that if you are brand new to
credit cards or just building your credit score then the Discover it card is the best
option out there and not only gives you a fast and free way to build your credit score
but also offers some pretty great cash back benefits as well.
Now I will mention that since I got this card about five years ago, there have been some
new products like credit builder cards that have hit the market and those are fantastic
tools that again are designed to build your credit from zero or repair bad credit but
they oftentimes don't offer any kind of cash back reward so I'd still say that if you're
able to get approved you might want to go for something like the discover it card but
again it doesn't hurt to apply, see what happens, and you can always go for a different product
if you get denied.
So I absolutely love my discover it card and while I don't personally use it anymore and
I probably haven't used it for about two years, I still just keep this account open because
it has no annual fee and by keeping that account open it has increased my total available credit,
increase my lines of credit, increase the average age of my credit, and all of that
is really good for my credit score.
And I was able to go from zero to a score in the mid seven hundreds in a matter of months
just by using this card for my regular everyday purchases and paying it off immediately which
you definitely should do as well and minimum you at least you want to set up autopay so
that you never get yourself into any trouble with this credit card or any credit card for
that matter.
If you do wanna sign up for the discovery credit card I will leave a link down in the
description below but as always this is just my opinion so I'd love to know what you think
of this product down in the comments section and whether or not you feel the discover it
credit card is still worth it in 2022.
As always if you did get value out of this content and you want to help support me the
easiest way to do that is actually by checking out some of my favorite financial tools down
in the description below including one offer from the point cash back debit card that will
currently give you $100 when you sign up and make your first purchase so be sure to check
that out using the link down below.
Be sure to hit the like button and subscribe to the channel for more content like this
in the future and of course, thank you so much for your time I really do appreciate
it so much take it easy and I'll see you in the next one!