Discover® Motiva Card Review

On the surface, it seems like the Discover® Motiva Card rewards customers for paying their bill on time. But it really seems like the card rewards you for carrying a high balance and paying a lot of interest. The card rewards you with 5% of your interest charges as a cashback bonus every month that you make your payment on time. Earning the maximum amount of 5% bonuses would mean that you pay a lot of interest and to do that, you’d have to revolve a high balance. If you always pay your balance in full every month, you’ll never get the 5% interest bonus.

5% Pay-On-Time Bonus Example

Let’s say you have a $1,000 balance at the 3.99% introductory interest rate. You paid the minimum on time last month and received finance charge of $3.25. The 5% bonus would be $0.17. At the maximum interest rate of 19.99%, you’d pay $16.58 in interest and earn a $.83 bonus.

Other Rewards

The 5% cashback isn’t the only rewards program on the Discover Motiva credit card. The card also pays up to 1% cashback bonus on other purchases and 5% to 20% bonus when you shop in Discover’s online shopping mall. Annual purchases under $1,500 earn 0.25%; purchases between $1,500 and $3,000 earn .50%; and purchases over $3,000 earn the maximum 1% reward. You can earn an unlimited amount of rewards as long as you keep your account active and in good standing. You can redeem rewards in cash, Discover gift card, donation to charity, merchandise, or a partner gift card.

Benefits

Discover Motiva has a few other benefits. You get up to $500,000 in flight accident insurance to cover you if you’re injured on a flight that you purchased with your Discover card. The card also has free auto rental insurance that kicks in to cover uncovered damages on a car you rented with your Discover card. You must decline coverage from the car rental agency to use this insurance.

Fees and Interest

There’s no annual fee on the Discover Motiva credit card. The card has a 3.99% introductory interest rate on purchases and balance transfers that lasts 15 months. After that, the regular APR on purchases and balance transfers is 11.99% to 19.99% variable based on your credit standing. People with good credit history will get a lower interest rate.

The cash advance APR is 23.99%. The fee paid for a cash advance will be either $10 or 5% whichever is greater.

The balance transfer fee during the introductory period is 3% of each transfer. After the introductory period the balance transfer fee will be $10 or 5%, whichever is greater.

Better Discover Cards

The Discover Motiva has a weaker reward program than the Discover Open Road and Discover More cards. The Discover Open Road pays 2% cashback on the first $250 in gas and restaurant purchases each month and the Discover More credit card pays up to 5% cashback back on purchases in categories that rotate every few months. Both cards also let you earn up to 1% cashback on everything else.

Biggest Benefit

• Long introductory period
• No annual fee

Biggest Drawback

You have to carry a big balance to earn the best rewards