5% Cash Back on Home Improvement with Discover Card’s Rewards Program
January 1, 2011 | by Fred (email) |
Discover Card’s Rewards program rolls over into a new quarter next April 1. This quarter (April 1 – June 30) is when Home Improvement centers are on the list for 5% cash back!
How Do I Sign Up?
If you’re not a Discover Card member and you want to be a part of this program, you can signup for a Discover More Card here. Once you’re approved, you can enroll in the program immediately using Discover’s web site.
If you’re already a Discover Card member and have online access, simply login to your online Discover Card account, select Cashback Bonus and then select Get More. Follow the resulting prompts. It’s pretty simple. If you don’t use Discover’s online access program (which is great, by the way), you can call 1-800-DISCOVER and sign up over the phone, just have your account # ready.
What Purchases Qualify for the 5% Rebate?
Up to $400 in purchases made at the following types of stores qualify:
- Department Stores
- Clothing Stores
- Home Improvement Centers (We’re pretty certain Home Depot, Lowes, and similar stores qualify – but you should verify)
- Lawn & Garden Centers
Cash Back on Other Purchases?
Each quarter, Discover Card offers a new 5% cash back promotion. July-September includes gas and hotels, October-December features restaurants and movies. Sometimes the categories rotate, so checking their site makes the most sense.
Of course, Discover Card (marketed as “the card that pays you back”) offers up to 1% cash back on all purchases throughout the year.
Any Limitations?
Like all credit cards, there are certain limitations (purchase/reward limits, qualification for the card, Discover can change the program at any time, etc.) Just read the terms and conditions at Discover’s site or on the sign-up form.
Other Cash Back Deals
Discover Card is one of Cash Money Life’s best cash back credit cards. If you are interested in deals beyond Discover, you can check Ryan’s list for more details on other cards that also feature cash back, althought not usually inside the home improvement domain.
I have to say… and this puts me in the minority… but I just don’t like credit cards at all. I don’t care how many trips I could take on frequent flyer miles, etc…
I’m a cash and carry kind of gal, I suppose!
(This is a good deal, I suppose, for those who don’t have a problem with credit cards!)
Jennifer,
Credit cards can be dangerous, but obviously if managed well can really pay off. I’ve a friend who actually deposits money from 0% balance transfer cards into an account, earns the interest, and then pays the card off in full, without ever paying interest. (For the skeptics, his credit score has been unaffected by this practice). I wouldn’t go that far myself (seems like a lot of hassle for little reward), but I think getting 1-5% back is worth it on purchases-esp. when you think that retailers have built this cost into the price of their goods, so you’re really just getting it back.
The way I’ve mitigated the risk of “overspending” is to frequently download my transactions into quicken. This lets me see mine and kim’s together as well, so nothing catches us off guard at month’s end.
In any event, for those who are carrying a balance on their cards, I forgot to mention that this card also has a 0% balance transfer interest until May 2009 (check the signup page for the latest details and qualification info) on that.
Right… I understand they can be good. I mean, I get to fly to somewhere cool every year or two on my mother-in-law’s frequent flyer miles built up on her credit card…
but it’s still not the right choice for me, and I still don’t trust them.
It’s up to everyone else to make their own decisions on this!
Discover should “automatically” reward customer 5% cash back bonus each quarter based on customer’s transaction items. Currently, 5% cash back program is required customers to sign up each quarter, which is not convenient and easy to forget. So it is not like a sincere program.
@ Jennifer
I agree with you.. i too not like credit card.. many problems create use it.