Mar 8th, 2009
The Discover Motiva Card: Rewarding… Uh, What?
I realize that there are quite a few Discover Card detractors, but I’ve been happy with mine. In fact, I have three–one for gas (5% back up to a $100 max per month), one for the free GPS offer, one for just about anything else–and have appreciated their lack of annual fee, outstanding customer service, and one month long (or pretty close to it) billing cycles.
That said, I am perplexed by the Discover Motiva Card.
The Discover Motiva Card apparently is designed to reward you for paying your card on time. If you pay your card on time for six consecutive months, then you get the following month’s interest as a bonus.
What?
So, if I actually did what I was supposed to do, and what personal finance bloggers and all kinds of other folks know and practice and tell others to as well–pay your credit card in full on time every month–I get no reward? Even though I pay on time for six consecutive months, since I never have interest, I never get the reward? And how much of a reward is it to get the same amount as a reward that you’re paying anyway?
I’m perplexed. If someone from Discover or someone who has this card is reading this, please explain this to me.
i don’t get it either. in fact, i think it’s downright encouraging bad habits. they basically want you to pay the minimum every month and make you feel like you’re doing the right thing, when in reality you shouldn’t have put all that money on the card in the first place. it “motiva”tes you to keep a big balance on the card, because the bigger the balance you have, the more you’ll be effected by the free month’s interest. it’s one thing to encourage people to do the wrong thing but then to reward them for doing so is kind of outrageous.
Thanks for writing this post. I was thinking the same thing…if you don’t carry a balance you don’t get anything. What is the point of that?
They should do something else as a reward because this concept makes no sense.
Beware of banks bearing gifts.
Haha… what the?! Unheard of!
Hi, I’m a Discover Card representative and I’d like to help answer your questions about the Discover Motiva Card.
You asked about why this card offers a reward for paying on time. This card was intended for cardmembers who carry a balance on their card month to month. Each time a Motiva cardmember makes six on-time payments in a row, they’ll get the next month’s interest back as a Pay-On-Time Bonus in addition to up to 1% Cashback Bonus on their purchases. This Pay-On-Time Bonus is a different type of Cashback Bonus. Since a cardmember who’s carrying a balance isn’t spending as much as they are trying to pay down—we wanted to reward them in another way. This Pay-On-Time Bonus can even be redeemed for a statement credit to help pay down their balance even faster. The purpose of the Discover Motiva Card is to encourage good credit management. As long as their payments are on time, whether paying the minimum amount due or more, a Motiva cardmember will be rewarded.
To your point, someone who doesn’t carry a balance won’t have interest to convert into a reward. Our other card products like the Discover More Card would be a better fit for their use of credit and provide even more rewards like our seasonal 5% Cashback Bonus program, among others.
We’ve developed each of our card products to suit the different ways people use credit and offer them the most rewards possible. I hope that by checking out the cards that we offer, anyone can find the card that best fits their needs —like you did with your Discover OpenRoad Card. To view a detailed description of all our cards and their rewards programs go to http://www.discovercard.com/credit-cards/
Kate, Discover Community Manager
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