Discover it® Chrome review: Bonus cash back on gas and dining

What Discover says about this card

FEATURED CARD

 

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• Earn a $250 statement credit after you spend $3,000 in purchases on your new Card within the first 6 months.
• $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95.
• Buy Now, Pay Later: Enjoy $0 intro plan fees when you use Plan It® to split up large purchases into monthly installments. Pay $0 intro plan fees on plans created during the first 12 months from the date of account opening. Plans created after that will have a monthly plan fee up to 1.33% of each eligible purchase amount moved into a plan based on the plan duration, the APR that would otherwise apply to the purchase, and other factors.
• Low Intro APR: 0% on purchases and balance transfers for 12 months from the date of account opening. After that, your APR will be a variable APR of 19.24% - 29.99%. Variable APRs will not exceed 29.99%.
• 6% Cash Back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 per year in purchases (then 1%).
• 6% Cash Back on select U.S. streaming subscriptions.
• 3% Cash Back at U.S. gas stations.
• 3% Cash Back on transit (including taxis/rideshare, parking, tolls, trains, buses and more).
• 1% Cash Back on other purchases.
• Cash Back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit or at Amazon.com checkout.
• Get up to $120 in statement credits annually when you pay for an auto-renewing subscription to Equinox+ at equinoxplus.com with your Blue Cash Preferred® Card. That's $10 in statement credits each month. Enrollment required.
• Thinking about getting the Disney Bundle which can include Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+? Your decision made easy with $7/month back in the form of a statement credit after you spend $9.99 or more each month on an eligible subscription (subject to auto renewal) with your Blue Cash Preferred® Card. Enrollment required.
• Terms Apply.

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Terms and Limitations Apply

Credit Needed:

Good, Excellent

Discover it® Chrome rewards

With cash back earned in popular everyday spending categories and no annual fee, the CardName card has evolved into a market leader for cash back incentives. With the Chrome card, cardholders earn 2% cash back on combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants (on up to $1,000 in combined purchases each quarter), and 1% cash back on all other purchases. And for new cardholders, the Discover it® Chrome will match all the cash back you’ve earned in the first year of card ownership, at the end of the year.

That means if you’ve accumulated $300 in cash back throughout your first year of card membership, Discover will match it - making your total cash back $600 - automatically. To sweeten the deal, Discover it® Chrome offers 0% introductory APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers (then, RegAPR).

Discover it® Chrome benefits

Cashback redemption options

Unlike many cash back rewards cards on the market, the CardName card’s cash back never expires and has many flexible cash back redemption options. The flexibility to redeem your cashback rewards for cash at any time, and in any amount is a huge benefit of the card. You can also use your rewards at Amazon.com checkout, using the Pay with Points feature. Other ways to redeem your cash back bonuses include a credit to your account, an electronic deposit to your bank account, or a donation to select charities.

Security features

The CardName card also offers some great security features. Discover offers the ability to freeze your credit card account in seconds by utilizing a simple on/off switch either on Discover's mobile app or website to prevent new purchases. Discover also offers a $0 Fraud Liability Guarantee so you're never responsible for any unauthorized purchases. The Chrome card also comes with the ability to activate free alerts that notify you if your social security number is found on any of thousands of Dark Web sites.

Discover it® Chrome foreign transaction fees

Having no foreign transaction fees is a feature that you will normally find in luxury travel rewards credit cards that also have premium annual fees. The CardName card is one of the few no-annual-fee cash-back rewards cards that has no foreign transaction fees. What this means is when you are traveling internationally, you can use your Chrome card and you won’t be on the hook for additional fees on foreign transactions.

Oftentimes cards will have a foreign transaction fee of around 3% on any international purchases made. So if you were to spend $5,000 while abroad, you could end up shelling out around $150 on foreign transaction fees with a different card, or you could save that money by using the Discover it® Chrome card instead.

Potential Discover it® Chrome downsides

While CardName is a good no-annual-fee option if you spend a decent amount on gas and at restaurants, these cash back categories have caps, so this might not be the card for you if you spend exuberantly in these categories each quarter. Because of the match offer, this card has a lot to offer during your first year as a cardholder, but if you start spending over the $1,000 quarterly caps, it may be wise to look for a rewards card that fits your spending patterns more closely.

Another thing to look out for: Not everyone accepts Discover. Despite being around since the mid-1980s, Discover cards are still not accepted everywhere, but the good news is there are millions of merchants who do accept them today and that number is growing both domestically and internationally.

Discover it® Chrome credit score needed

The CardName requires good to excellent credit to get approval, but other factors are considered in the application process as well, including payment history of revolving credit, your total open cards, and the average age of accounts open.

The credit agency Experian considers a good FICO score anything that’s above 670, but having a score above 740 or even 800 may further increase your chances of approval. Please note though that these numbers can vary between different bureaus.

If you have limited credit history or are currently building your credit, getting approved for the Discover it® Chrome card may be difficult.

Discover it® Chrome cardholder scores

CardRatings conducts a survey annually to learn what actual cardholders think of their cards. Here are the results:

*Scores above reflect the results of surveys with actual cardholders. Full methodology below.

How Discover it® Chrome compares to other credit cards

Discover it® Chrome vs. Discover it® Cash Back

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If you are looking for a no-annual-fee card with more cash back earning potential, the CardName card is a great alternative to the Discover it® Chrome card. The Discover it® Cash Back earns 5% cash back in rotating categories (such as gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants, and online shopping) each quarter (up to the quarterly maximum of $1,500 spent each time you activate) as well as 1% cash back on all other purchases. This is much higher than the Chrome card’s 2% cash back earned at gas stations and restaurants (on up to $1,000 in combined purchases each quarter), and 1% cash back on all other purchases.

Like the Discover it® Chrome card, the Cash Back card matches all cash back earned in the first year for all new cardmembers. That means that all that 5% cash back earned in the rotating quarterly categories is essentially equal to 10% cash back in those categories for your first year. Both cards also have flexible redemption options and no foreign transaction fees and, like the Discover it® Chrome, the Discover it® Cash Back has intro 0% APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers, then RegAPR.

Discover it® Chrome vs. Discover it® Student Chrome

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The CardName shares many similarities with the Discover it® Chrome card. Both cards have no annual fee, no foreign transaction fees, and cash back earned on every purchase. The cards earn cash back at the same rate of 2% earned at gas stations and restaurants (on up to $1,000 in combined purchases each quarter), and 1% cash back on all other purchases. Both cards are offering the same introductory bonus where all cash back earned during the first year will be matched for all new cardmembers, dollar-for-dollar, by Discover, at the end of your first year as a cardholder. That means $100 in cash back actually turns out to be a $200 cash back bonus.

Where the cards differ is that the Discover it® Chrome card is for individuals with more established credit; whereas the Student version is necessarily for people with a shorter, less-established credit history.

Discover it® Chrome vs. Capital One® Quicksilver

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For straightforward cash back earning on all purchases and a solid new cardholder bonus, the CardName is worth your consideration. The Quicksilver card earns 1.5% cash back on every purchase, so you won’t have to worry about opting in to rotating quarterly categories or having to keep track of tiered earnings. While this is lower compared to the Discover it® Chrome’s tiered earning of 2% on gas and restaurants, the Quicksilver card doesn’t have caps on cash back earnings. The Chrome card only earns 2% on up to $1,000 in combined gas and restaurant purchases each quarter, after which you will only earn 1% cash back.

The no-annual-fee Quicksilver card also has a one-time welcome offer for new cardholders of $200 after spending $500 on purchases during the first three months of card membership, and 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months (then, RegAPR; balance transfer fee applies).

Is Discover it® Chrome a good credit card?

With many benefits and few downsides, yes, the CardName card is a good credit card. The Chrome card comes with no annual fee, no foreign transaction fees, bonus cash back earned in frequent spending categories, and all cash back matched in the first year. The Chrome card is a great card for even the occasional credit card user, but may not be an ideal fit for someone who spends excessively in the gas and restaurant categories since there is a quarterly cap on the 2% earning rate.

Survey Methodology: CardRatings commissioned Op4G in September 2023 to conduct surveys among 1,869 cardholders nationwide. CardRatings website analytics from Jan. 1, 2023-Aug. 31, 2023 were used to determine a selection of the most popular cards and additional cards were included to add survey breadth. Responses to each of nine questions were given on a scale of 1-10 and respondents' scores were then averaged under broad topics. To determine the overall score, responses from questions 1-8 were summed and the answer to "How likely are you to recommend this card to a friend, coworker or family member?" was double weighted. “Current Scores” reflect scores from the most recent survey (2023); "Past Scores" reflect scores from the 2022 survey.