I always use the Fidelity Amex (soon to be the Fidelity Visa) as the benchmark for a cashback card. It gives 2% cashback on every purchase. This should be your go to card for non bonused category spend. 2% is great, but 3% is even better.
That is what you can get with the Discover IT Miles card, with 2 restrictions:
- You must be a new cardmember
- This 3% is only good for the first year
The Discover IT Miles card earns “1.5 miles” per dollar on everything. This is equivalent to 1.5 cents (1.5%) per dollar, which you can redeem as cash or a statement credit. At the end of the year, Discover will double whatever you earn, thus making the total cashback to 3%.
Another small benefit of the Discover IT Miles card is that you will get reimbursed up to $30 for inflight wifi purchases. That’s fantastic for a no annual fee card.
Overall, this maybe the best cashback card for everyday spend the first year. In addition, you could save 1.13% on federal taxes the first year by paying with this card. After the first year, you would only earn 1.5% cash back. At that point, the 2% cashback cards would be of better use. Regardless, it would make sense to keep the card open due to the no annual fee and the free in flight wifi.
This is an underrated card that probably deserves more attention than it gets.
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