The Miles Credit Card by Discover Card is designed for those with good credit who want to take advantage of earning points for their purchases to exchange for travel rewards. Every dollar you charge to this card for your purchases will earn you one mile.

Through Discover’s travel rewards program, cardholderscan gain double miles through $3,000 restaurant and travel purchases. You will also earn a mile for every dollar you spend for general purchases.

Cardholders can redeem their miles do lower the airfare or cover for the entire cost of it when traveling with most US-based airlines. You can also exchange the miles for gift cards that you can use purchasing from fifty brand-name partners or you can redeem it as cash.

During the first year of the card, cardholders will be earning 1,000 miles as bonus every month that they use the card. That is a clear 12,000 bonus miles for the first year if you at least use the card every month. The maximum miles you can earn annually is 60,000 miles. The miles will not expire as long as the account will be active within a 3-year period.

Like the other credit cards of Discover, the Miles Card also provides platinum benefits to card holders. You will be able to get coverage when you rent vehicles, get travel accident insurance of as much as $500,000, and other online account related features.

The Miles credit card by Discover offers a 0% introductory interest rate for purchases and if you want to transfer any balance from your other credit cards for its first six months. There is also no annual fee. The APR is pretty competitive but take note that the better your credit score is, the better rate you will receive.

Thumbs up features: no annual fee; 0% intro rate; bonus miles; rewards program.

Thumbs down feature: the low rates are not available to everyone

Fees and Cost

• No annual fee
• 0% intro rate for purchases and also balance transfers for the first six months
• 11.99 through 19.99% APR for purchases
• 23.99% APR for Cash advance and Penalty Default interest rate
• $0.50 minimum finance charge
• Cash advance fee is 3% or minimum of $5
• Over the credit limit fee is $15 for balances through $15 and $29 for balances over $500; same fees apply for late payments made

Summary of Rewards Program

• Earn 1 mile for every dollar of spending
• Get double miles for the first $3,000 of spending on travel purchases
• For the first year of the account, card holders can get a maximum of 12,000 miles as bonus; that is 1,000 miles for every month the credit card is used
• No blackout dates and restrictions for the redeemed miles
• You can redeem the miles for cash rebates and gift certificates
• The rewards do not have an expiration but inactivity for longer than 18 months may partially or completely forfeit the bonus

Other Features

• Car rental insurance
• Up to $500K accidental insurance when you travel
• Security protection services
• Fraud protection
• Online services related to your account

Verdict

The Miles by Discover credit card is ideal for those who want a flexible rewards program that can be used for travel without being limited to any in-house travel arrangements. This credit card allows you decide and plan out your travel itinerary.

A lot of institutions are tightening their grip on issuing credit cards and have gone to as far as canceling credit cards to limit their risks in a very volatile market today. Discover offers Escape credit card which is basically a travel rewards card which combines other features like cash rebates, and 0% on purchases and balance transfers.

The travel rewards card comes packed with some nice features:

Double Your Miles

Undoubtedly as the best travel credit card in the market today, Discovery Escape Card comes with a very unique feature that enables card holders to double their miles for every $1 spent.

You can take advantage of the shopdiscover.com where you look for items of partner merchants that you can find on the website. The cash back bonus can range from 5% to 20% depending on the partner shop for the other Discover cards. With Escape card, you can double the miles for every dollar spent.

The miles can accumulate without you needing to worry that you will not be able to use them since they do not expire. To keep the miles active, the card holder should just use the card for 18 consecutive months and should not incur late payments occurring on two consecutive cyles.

Choose to Travel, Exchange Miles for Gift Cards, Or convert it to cash

Holders of the Escape Card have two options when it comes to the accumulated miles. You can choose to book any hotel or airline that you choose using your Discover Escape card or you can exchange the miles for some gift cards.

When redeeming the miles, Discover requires cardholders to submit the expenses within 3 months. The rate is going on at $100 for 10,000 miles. You also have the freedom to discover the best deal in the market for you since you can book your travel offline or online with any travel agency.

If you opt for gift cards, you can really take advantage of the value you have with your miles. Some merchants are willing to go for $25 gift cards in exchange of only 2000 miles. Discover has almost 100 partner merchants giving consumers a very wide variety of choices.

Discover also gives you a chance to convert your miles to cash. You can convert your 5000 miles to either a $25 electronic deposit or credit to your account or you can have it as $25 donation to a charitable institution.

Fees are No Big Deals

The annual fee of $60 is really very cheap considering the double the miles program of the Escape card. Frequent flier cards in the market today have annual fees of $50 to $85. Discover also gives card holders 12,000 bonus miles for the first year or a thousand-mile bonus for very purchase you make every month of the first yaer.

The flexibility of the reward system Escape card gives to the consumers is excellent. You have the freedom to choose which airline or hotel you want to book with. The Discover Escape card defines a win-win situation.