Discover it Miles Credit Card Review

The Discover it Miles Card is designed for those who want complete flexibility with the usage of their travel reward points, and don’t want to ever pay an annual fee for their credit card.

The Miles card offers travel credits (“Miles”) that can be used for any type of travel (airline, cruise, vacation package, hotel, or car rental) and can be booked through multiple channels including; direct with the travel provider (i.e. the airline, hotel, rental car company, cruiseline, etc.), through a travel agent or through a travel website.

All you have to do is book and pay for your airfare, hotel, cruise, etc.. with your Miles Card and redeem for travel credits within 90 days after the date the travel purchase posts to your account.

Here's how it works – Lets say you have 20,000 Miles available to redeem and you purchase a $300 airline ticket or hotel room. Once the transaction posts to your account you can call 1-800-DISCOVER and redeem the miles for a $200 credit to your account for your travel purchase (miles are worth 1 penny each, so 20,000 miles = a $200 statement credit). It does not matter what airline or hotel you use – any qualified travel related purchase will be eligible for a statement credit.

Sign up Bonus, Rewards and Transfer Options

The Discover it Miles Card does not offer a sign up bonus where you get a certain number of miles after your first purchase.  However they essentially have an anniversary bonus called “Discover Match” where they match all the Miles you've earned and apply them to your account in the following one or two billing periods.  When you add this on top of the 1.5 miles earned per dollar spent, it could be interesting.  Let's see what that might look like…

Points earned in the first year with the Discover it Miles Card

Additional Benefits of the Miles by Discover Card

The Discover it Miles Card comes with a set of benefits exclusively available to cardholders. These benefits include:

Our Take on the Miles by Discover Card

Is it right for you?

While the Discover it Miles Card does not have a traditional sign up bonus like some of the other card offers right now, it does have a nice anniversary bonus with the Discover Match feature.

It's a pretty good “no annual fee” travel rewards card.  The primary reasons someone should consider this card are:

• If you want to earn points toward free travel, but don’t know how you want to use the points yet (i.e. for a cruise or a hotel or airfare…) and don’t want to be committed to a given program with a co-branded airline or hotel card.
• If you like the idea of the statement credit approach rather than booking free travel through the card company’s travel services or the partner provider. This would also allow you to receive points or miles for your travel because you would have paid with cash not miles or points and then will receive a credit on your statement for the amount you have available to apply to the purchase.
• If you want to use the travel credit in a travel category that is not covered by another offer – for example, a boutique hotel that is not part of a chain or other rewards program. This is another example of the benefit to the “statement credit” feature.
• If you want the flexibility to use you miles toward travel or non-travel related items.
• If you want a travel credit card with no annual fee.

Apply here… with this secure link to the Application Page for the Miles by Discover Card.

For a complete list of all Travel Credit Cards go to our Travel Credit Card Page.   On this page you will find all of the best travel credit cards including the best Travel Reward Cards, Airline Mile Cards, Hotel Point Cards and the latest sign up bonus offers.

Know your Credit Score

Before you apply for any credit card, you should make sure you have an understanding of your credit score and credit history. Most Travel Credit Card Companies require you to have a strong credit score, ideally they will prefer a FICO score of at least 700.

Once you apply for a credit card, the credit card company will perform a credit inquiry. Be aware that credit inquiries will affect your credit score. Each time you apply for a credit card (or any type of loan for that matter), the inquiry will reduce your score anywhere from 2-5 points.

By law, you are allowed to obtain a free copy of your credit report from each of the credit bureaus once a year. The free annual copies of your credit report will give you all of the data that provides the foundation for your credit score, but the Credit Reports don't provide the Credit Score itself. You will need both your Credit Report and Credit Score to get the full view of your credit situation.

Here are four links to get your Free Credit Score:

• CreditReport.com Free Credit Score
• CreditSesame (no card required – provides Experian Score)
• CreditKarma (no card required – provides TransUnion Score)
• myFICO (link to the Free credit score estimator page)

Here is the link to get your Free Credit Report:

• annualcreditreport.com

Disclaimer:

Finally, please only apply for any travel credit card if you pay your bills in full each month. Carrying a balance on any travel credit card will eliminate the benefit of the travel rewards due to the higher interest rates associated with these cards.