“In this hobby we say maybe 3 or 4 exciting or big new promotions a year, to me, that are actually worth getting excited about and I actually think this is one of them.” I was surprised to hear these words about Discover.
Then again, 40% cashback is a surprising thing even coming from Greg. So this was no doubt an interesting conversation to kick off my video and podcast career with TravelisFree.
Earlier I had mentioned wanting to test out doing video content as well and I hate talking by myself. My solution is to do interviews and record them. It also works out super well simply because I can publish the interview as both a podcast and a video.
I drug my feet getting started but it’s always better to do. So despite being sick (please forgive me being a sickly version of me), and starting out I’m not worried about audio quality… my focus was on starting. I can always improve, but I don’t want to invest in good audio and even more time just to find out that podcasts aren’t something people want, or video. Maybe both will be a hit, maybe one, maybe neither. I don’t care, my only goal is to make content that’s good and that people love.
With all those disclaimers let me just get this out there.
Update: I will have this up as an iTunes podcast as soon as my computer skills reach ~2010. Which… may take another 24 hours.
The interview is no doubt long, and the best part is no doubt once we start talking about Discover. I’ll list the topics by time below, also clickable to take you to that part of the video.
- What is manufactured spend? @ 5:37
- REDbird @ 6:05
- Discover @ 15:59
- Some card talk @ 22:50
- Back to Discover @ 27:40
For Those Who Read
REDbird
Everything we discuss about the REDbird can be summed up with the REDbird InfoGraphic, or Greg’s Complete Guide to REDbird.
In short you can load $5,000 a month on the REDbird, which you can then use to payoff your credit card directly from the REDbird. However, now they can’t be loaded with credit cards, instead you have to use a “debit” card. Which means if you want to earn miles/points, you need to buy a debit giftcard first and then load the REDbird. The links above can explain how.
Discover Double Rewards (even on 5x)
Stop and read these:
- Maximizing the Discover Double Cash promo: Which card is best? How many can I get?
- Maximizing the Discover Double Cash promo: Huge rewards via online shopping
Definitely the most important and relevant to our conversation is the first, which explains what the Double Cash promo is. Then the second link is really interesting because he talks about going through online portals.
In short, Discover is running this promo, kind of like a sign up bonus, where all your cashback rewards are doubled at the end of 12 months. So if you sign up for the “Discover it” and a couple other cards, or call and enroll if you’re already a card member, you have 12 months of Double Cash back. The Discover it card is important because it is the one that allows you to buy via the shopping portal which almost always gives 5% and gives as much as 20% cashback.
But that’s before doubling. So in the interview and in the “Huge rewards via online shopping” post, he gives a Sears example. The Discover portal is giving 10% cashback with Sears. And that’s before doubling. So right off the bat you can get something over 20% bonus on top of the regular spending cashback.
Then he talks about “double dipping”. In this case he buys Sears gift cards that give 10% cash back, and then goes back through the portal to actually buy something through sears. Say, a microwave. First you buy a Sears gift card (which also works at Kmart), and that gives 10% cash back. Then he goes back through and buys the microwave through the portal using the gift cards. This gives another 10% cashback for a total of 20%. Then with the double cash promo, all your rewards will be doubled! That’s 42% cashback, plus the regular spend being doubled.
How often do we have a deal like this? And how often do they last for 12 months? Not often. So for those who think this hobby gets harder, I say for every door closed, another one opens. Looks better to me.
Conclusion
If you enjoyed this, people let me know, and subscribe to the youtube channel. Also tell me which you prefer, audio (I assume so you can listen on the phone later and on the go) or video.
Wow , this is much better than reading looking farward to more interviews as we can keep doing our regular work (audio/video doesnt matter for me but YMMV)and keep listening too ,time saver, good to see u both of u after a long time.
Thanks! Glad to hear. Will definitely do more.
Now I just have to learn how to make my mouth move in sync with my voice!
lol. Sorry about that. I think there’s a learning curve to this thing. Next time it will be perfect. … Assuming upload speed on your end is fine. 😀
Agreed. Great listen. Keep these coming.
Thanks, will do.
For those with zero attention span, and noisy kids underfoot, would you consider posting a transcription? Even something with lots of errors like an unedited speech to text would be good enough for me.
This site is for high attention span only. 😀
So that sounds like a good idea, and I compromised by adding a section below about the content in the video and link to FM’s post that he basically goes over.
My concern is that the transcript will read unusually slow, so I did a written summary… which is the opposite of slow.
My question is do you think you would prefer the entire transcript or the summary I did below?
If transcript… I’ll need a lazy way to transcribe it into text.
haley is right – I much competition for my limited TV/video time. Prefer written blogs bc easier to skim/skip/fit into my already video-heavy life. Travelisfree has a place in my life in written form – may lose my attention in the already-crowded noise of video …
I’ll ask you the same question then. The written section I added below the video: Good? Or would the entire transcript be better? my fear is that written it would be a bit boring.
Good stuff. Glad I listened through the last 20 minutes, learned quite a few things. Thanks for putting this together!
Definitely felt like it got better as it went! Which feels encouraging as it’s my first time doing it. lol
Podcast or transcription for me 🙂
Sweet. Working on podcasting from iTunes. Or is mp3 download good enough for getting to ipod? I think itunes will be easier, right?
Drew, you gave me laugh this morning: “drug my feet” – that’s funny misspell, you meant drag I believe. Still can’t beat a good laugh!
That’s why my feet weren’t working… they were drugged.
We interrupt this broadcast to bring you a tidbit from the “Grammer Girl” –
“But it turns out that treating “drag” as an irregular verb and using “drug” as the past tense is common in some parts of America. Linguists call it dialect, which essentially means it’s a language quirk shared by a group of people. Dialect can be shared by any group of people; for example, quirks can be shared by people who live in the same region, were educated by the same system, or inhabit the same social class.
Using “drug” as the past tense of “drag” is a dialect common to people who live in the southern United States…”
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/dragged-versus-drug
I’m glad someone thinks us southerners are real people too.
Wait you’re a southerner also, right? Are you also from VA? If so you’re bias.
Point is, “drug” is a southern word for past tense of drag.
Verdict is still out on if southerners are real people too.
Yes, a Southerner also, and we Southerners have to stick together (even if I’m just a VA transplant).
I guess I still need yankee validation. 😀
Something is not adding up for 42% cashback. If you buy Sears GC and getting 10% – that’s correct. But when you buying actual item from Sear using this Sear GC – you are not getting another 10% because you DON’T use your Discover anymore. It’s one or another, am I correct?
You might still be able to get double portal points, but not double Discover cashbacks…
So the 42% is still realistic?
It’s not a spend bonus it’s a double of all points earned. It’s beautiful. It even includes sign up bonus, which apparently there’s a $50 one if you get a refer a friend link.
So you get 10% via portal and 1% for spend.
Then you get 10% but not for spend.
That’s 22 and it ALL gets doubled.
I just called Discover and they verified that you must use your discover card, not a gift card to earn the 10% cash back through their portal. Therefore on the Sears example you would get a maximum 30% cash back. 10% for going through the portal, an extra 5% next month since department stores is one of the categories. If you got the Discover IT card that doubles so you get a total of 30%. You will want to shop around because if the Sears is more expensive than other places that may negate your savings. Also note that this is for a max of $1,500 per quarter so you get a max of $450 cash back for that quarter.
You cannot double dip by buying Sears gift card and going through the portal and using the gift card to get an additional 10% cash back again. You MUST use your Discover card to get the cash back. Also looking through the various gift card reseller websites, you can sell your Sears gift cards but only for about 84% face value.
All in all if you are planning to buy something from one of the bonus categories (department and home improvement stores, Amazon.com for July, Aug, Sept) it would be worthwhile to consider but it is not worth it to try to make money from this plan. If you got a regular Discover card it is well worth it to call them up and switch to the Discover IT card since it has no annual fee, you get a better bonus AND they carry over your account history, credit history and credit limit without a new credit check.
After another call to Discover it turns out that the current maximum is only 22%. Buying through the sears.com portal counts as online shopping and therefore does not qualify for the Department store extra cash back bonus. However you do get the 10% cash back and the always 1% for 11% which is doubled by the Discover IT promotion for a total of 22%. Not a bad discount but certainly less than 42%. However sometimes there is a 5% cashback bonus category of “online shopping” and that would give you a 32% discount if used in conjunction with the portal.
First off… DONT CALL
Second…. it will work.
Third… DONT CALL
Jason- HIN gave a great example using facts and direct information from Discover, and your rebuttal is simply ‘DONT CALL.’ I get their Customer Service might be sub par- But you gave no reason why ‘it will work.’
Not a big deal, but Imagine if someone spent a bunch of money trying to ‘beat the system’ from your misinformation, and it backfired…
Excellent start! Two thumbs up!
Please sir, could I have some more? :@)
So if you don’t need random Sears etc stuff, the idea is to get GC and resell? I guess it would still be profitable at such high CB. Very interested in this one as a relative newbie to CC’s and not qualifying yet for big points cards (hopefully soon). I got Discover It student card earlier this year; it’s been lazing around since I’ve been travelling internationally. Maybe time to get it in shape?
Reselling would be your only option for double dipping but not the only option. And yea, it’s still profitable enough that it’s at least safER, if your smart about it.
You could use the first gift card to buy a debit gift card, but as he says, it’s really hit miss.
Plus, if you’re a normal person… most things can be bought at Sears and Kmart. Everything from soaps to tires.
Does the student card get you into the portal? That would be nice. If not, maybe you can upgrade if you’ve had it for a while.
Thanks for putting yourself out there Drew. Loved the video and looking forward to more.
Thanks for putting this together, Drew. You and Greg write the blogs that I have learned the most from, and it was interesting to hear you both talk to a couple of things (even briefly) that I haven’t seen you write about yet. Namely, the recent Chase restrictions. I’d like to see your take on that at some point.
Nicely done! very user-friendly way to digest some topics that require serious brain cell-burning… such a nice combination, too: Greg, the pro for earning points, and Drew, the pro for spending them efficiently. Thank you!
I read all the blogs and am starting one too.
This is a strong idea. Please continue it.
I enjoyed the interview, Drew. Although I knew a lot of the info discussed, it is always interesting to hear the interesting tidbits that come up in a spontaneous conversation. I would love to see a regular podcast.
Quite the circle jerk we got going here.