Review

The Discover® Open Road(SM) Card, issued by Discover, is designed for those with very good credit who would like to earn cash rewards on gas and auto maintenance expenses.

Through the reward program, cardholders earn a full 5% in cash rebates for gas and auto maintenance purchases, up to 1% for general purchases, and .25% for purchases made at select warehouse clubs and discount stores.

Those who spend up to $1,500 on general purchases will receive a .25% rebate, between $1,500 and $3,000 will receive a .5% rebate, and over $3,000 will receive a full 1% rebate.*

This card also offers a variable rebate on gas and auto maintenance purchases. Those who spend up to $1,200 will receive a full 5% rebate, between $1,200 and $1,500 will receive a .25% rebate, between $1,500 and $3,000 will receive a .5% rebate, and over $3,000 will receive a 1% rebate. There is no yearly limit on the amount of rebates that can be earned, and rebates do not expire as long as the account is active within a 36-month period.

As an added bonus, cardholders can earn up to a double Cashback Bonus® when redeeming their rebates for gift certificates from participating Discover® Card Partners.

In addition to the reward program, the card also provides several platinum benefits, including travel accident insurance, auto rental insurance, and various fraud and security protection services.

This card has an attractive 0% introductory rate on purchases for six months and a 0% introductory rate on balance transfers for twelve months. The APR for this card is reasonably low, although it is important to note that only higher qualifying applicants will receive the lowest rate available.

Finance charges applied use the "Two Cycles Average Daily Balance" method, which is a more costly method in applying finance charges for those who occasionally carry a balance, in comparison to the "Average Daily Balance" method used by most card issuers.

Therefore, those who plan to spend up to $1,200 a year on gas and auto maintenance expenses (to earn the full 5% cash rebate), plan to use their Cashback Bonus® award at participating retailers (to earn double cash rebates), and plan to pay in full each month after the introductory rate expires (to avoid costly finance charges) will benefit most from what the Discover® Open Road(SM) Card has to offer.

*It is important to note that like many cash reward cards, the highest rebate offered will not apply to all purchases made with the credit card. In this case, 1% will be applied only to those purchases made after the cardholder spends over $3,000 in one year, so the overall cash rebate earned will be less than 1%, depending on the amount spent. For instance, if the cardholder were to spend $4,000, only $1,000 of this amount would be applied towards the 1% rebate. However, this does not take into account any promotional offers or the full 5% Cashback Bonus® award.