Discover's Deal of the Year

               If you know me in person, you have probably already heard about this deal. It is too good to not talk about to everyone I know. It seems almost too good to be true, but it is. May I announce the Discover Double Cash Back promotion + the Discover Apple Pay promotion.

Discover is trying really hard to obtain new customers. Earlier this year they announced a promotion for all new Discover IT/Discover IT Miles cardholders. Any cash back or miles you earn during the first year are doubled. Doubled! Sure, you have to wait a full 12 months from when you open the card till you get the cash back. But still, 2x cash back on a card that already earns 1%-5% is amazing. Let’s look at the Discover IT card in detail.

The Discover IT card earns 1% cash back at all locations, and is similar to the Chase Freedom card in the fact that each quarter there are new bonuses that earn 5% (up to $1,500 spend). This quarter this includes Amazon.com, department stores, and home improvement stores. Normally, 5% is pretty good. However that 5% becomes 10% at the end of the year, thanks to the Double Cash back promo. 

                Now this is where it gets even better. Starting on September 16^th, Discover is partnering with Apple Pay and offering a limited time bonus of 10% cash back in addition to whatever bonus you already earned! (up to $10,000 in spend). Let’s say you were shopping at Sears. You get 5% cash back from the 3rd quarter bonus, plus 10% cash back from Apple Pay, then at the end that cash back is doubled. You end up with 30% ((5%+10%)*2) cash back! Of course this is just a grab for new cardholders and is an unsustainable business model for Discover, but let’s takes advantage of if while it’s around. Let’s do some math!

                Purchase $200 VGC from Staples, pay $6.95 in fees. Earn $45.53 in cash back (206.95*22%) resulting in $38.58 profit.

• 48 $200 VGCs from Staples *38.58 = $1851.84

$1851.84 is amazing for one card. If you can manage to find a place that sells $500 VGCs with Apple pay (maybe Walgreens?) then you can get even better than the above scenario. Additionally, if you were to find a department store/home improvement store that accepted Apple Pay and sold VGCs, you could increase that 22% to 30% because the 5% is doubled! Finally, when you apply for the card using someone else’s referral link, you earn an additional $100 ($50 now, $50 at end of year). Do you have a spouse that is willing to let you manage their card? Double that bonus again, making you well over $4,000. This is my strategy, and both my wife and I will be Discover cardholders for at least the next year. $4,000 can go a long way on vacations when the flight and hotel are already taken care of.

                For those of you who would like to take advantage of this deal and support this site, please use my referral link to sign up for the Discover Card. Remember, you will earn $100 ($50 now, $50 in 12 months) by applying for the card through this link!

EDIT (9/17/2015): I had heard previous reports that Walgreens would not accept credit card payments for VGCs, but I tried it out anyway. Turns out my local Walgreens DOES accept them, so I purchased two Vanilla Gift Cards at $500 with $4.95 fee each. This turns a profit of $212.28 before liquidation ((504.95*2*.22)-(4.95*2) = 212.28).

                Unfortunately, these gift cards are not able to be loaded to Bluebird as they have problems with Walmart. I was able to take it to my local grocery store and purchase a couple money orders for $750 with only .49 in fees. All said and done, 10 minutes of work for $212 profit isn't half bad!