Saturday, July 14, 2007

Important: Changes to Discover Get More Rewards program!

I received today a letter from Discover indicating changes to the terms effective on October 1, 2007. The rewards part is on page 2 of the letter. Don't just look at the first page :) There are a few changes, but I am only talking about the ones that affect rewards and cashback bonus:

  • This reward option will be removed October 1, 2007: Mailing of a check for your rewards amount. They will still allow credits to your statement, and all the other rewards, but no check in your hands.
  • Also, the total amount of purchases made during your anniversary year will not include warehouse purchase or purchases qualifying for the 5% Get More reward. What this means is that it will take longer for you to go from 0.25% to 0.5%, etc, etc, if you make warehouse club and/or Get More purchases.
  • Forfeiting entire balance of cashback bonus or miles: if you fail to make a minimum payment for two consecutive billing periods, if your account is inactive for 18 months (previously it was 36 months)
  • Opinion: This obviously makes the rewards program less consumer-friendly. If it wasn't for the Get More program, the Discover Cashback bonus program with the tiered system starting at 0.25% would be in the bottom tier of rewards program. But the Get More program remains. If none of the above affect you directly (eg you don't get your rewards as checks in the mail) then it's all good.

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