Chase Freedom vs Discover More
Right now these are the two best cash back credit cards on the market, but how do they compare? Here’s a straightforward Chase Freedom vs Discover More comparison to show your the pros and cons on each…
Chase Freedom Card
The rewards program on this card has been changed up a few times over the years and here’s what you need to know about the current version.
Pros:
- 5% cash back in categories which rotate every quarter (usually 3 or 4 categories in a given quarter). The schedule for next year hasn’t been published yet, but during the past year the 5% categories included: grocery stores, dining, hotels, home furnishings, car rentals, home improvement, drugstores, childcare, education, gas, airfare, car rentals, utilities, hotels
- Straight 1% cash back on all other purchases
- No annual fee
Cons:
- The amount of 5% you can earn each quarter is capped – at the time of writing it was a max of $1,500 (so a max of $6,000 in spending per year would be eligible for the 5%)
Discover More Card
This card has been a solid rewards card for several years now and was the first to offer the 5% in rotating categories.
Pros:
- 5% cashback bonus in rotating categories – they typically rotate every quarter, but once in a while there will be extra bonus categories only featured for a month. Examples include restaurants, grocery stores, department stores, clothing stores, home improvement stores, gas stations, cruises, hotels, airlines, movie theatres, movie rentals
- Get up to a double cashback bonus when you redeem your rewards for gift cards instead of cash – for example, every $20 in rewards will buy you $40 in gift cards to use for a Sandals Resort vacation. There are around 140 different gift card partners participating with varying levels of rewards boosting.
- Up to 1% cashback bonus on all other purchases
- No annual fee
Cons:
- Like the Chase Freedom, the Discover More caps the amount of 5% you can get, however it’s not a set cap (it differs by quarter). For example, During the winter months it might be 5% on travel purchases (airlines/hotels/cruises/car rentals) up to $800 in combined spending.
- The 1% on other purchases is given after account spending exceeds $3,000 during a calender year. Before that it is 0.25% and the 5% categories don’t count towards reaching that $3k threshold.
Who Wins?
It really depends on your spending. For those that want one card for everything, the Freedom is probably best since it gives a straight 1% on other purchases too. However the Discover is very lucrative because it allows you to bolster your rewards by redeeming them for gift cards instead of cash.
So who’s the winner of the Chase Freedom vs Discover More matchup? Well they both are. What I actually do is use both – that way when I max out the 5% on one card, I switch to the other. Their 5% categories are usually different too, so it’s nice having both available.
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Got the Chase card with 600 credit score
Nevermind, I think figured it out. 5% cash back on $100 = 500 points because the cash back amount is then converted to point equivalent.
How does the fact that Chase Freedom’s rewards system is based on point compares to Discover’s which is $-based? Generally it seems that for Chase Freedom, 100 points = $1, so in a straight cash back scenario, wouldn’t $100 in qualifying purchases with Discover yield $5 cash back, while Chase Freedom yields $0.05. Or am I completely misunderstanding how Chase Freedom 5% rewards translates into points?
Applied for Discover More Card was approved in 2 days with 1500 credit limit. Have 736 Experian. 695 Equifax. Chase in 6 days denied stating not enough accounts with credit and too short of time with history. Had Visa for 2 1/2 years.