The Discover It Miles card was one of my favorite credit cards for manufactured spending. The card earns 3x miles on all spending during the first year and has no annual fee, which is a nice bonus. I got the Discover It Miles card two years ago and used it to generate $3,100 worth of cash back.
I could have definitely maximized that 3x bonus more if I had planned better. If you’re considering picking up a Discover It Miles Card, here are eight ways to maximize the 3x bonus during the first year:
Giftcards.com
Giftcards.com is how I earned most of my rewards on the Discover It Miles card. Barring a fee discount at one of the merchants below, it’s the cheapest way to manufacture spend with a Discover card. For all other credit cards, GiftCardMall works out cheaper. But since that site doesn’t accept Discover, giftcards.com is a solid alternative.
Just remember to utilize a cash back portal for 1% cash back on your purchase to help eliminate gift card fees. In the past, I’ve used Ebates (now Rakuten) successfully. However, after they refused to pay out hundreds of dollars on my dad’s account, I switched us all over to BeFrugal.
If you don’t mind a lower payout, Yazing pays out super fast: Within 30 days. However, they now charge a 10% fee on cash back earned, so it’s not ideal if you’re trying to maximize your discounts.
Update: Reader Shannon reports that Yazing has changed their payout timeline. Now they’re paying out within 90 days, like most other portals.
Simon Mall
Simon Mall accepts Discover cards, so it’s a good place to manufacture spend with your Discover It Miles card. You can buy up to $10,000 per day (with fees) without providing your SSN. If you don’t mind giving this information, then you can purchase up to $25,000 worth of Visa gift cards per day.
Simon Mall charges a $3.95 fee per $500 Visa gift cards, though they occasionally run $1 off Visa gift card promos. It’s been years since they’ve done a $0 fee promo, but my local Simon Mall’s marketing director recently told me, “Maybe we’ll do something special just at my store for the holidays.” Fingers crossed its a $0 fee promo!
Grocery store
You all know grocery stores sell $500 Visa gift cards. These are issues by Metabank, meaning you can use them to buy money orders at Walmart. The fees are significantly higher at $5.95 but sometimes grocery stores will reduce these fees and/or offer gas rewards. Just a few weeks ago I scored $10 off a Visa gift card through Safeway’s Just 4 U program.
Regardless, when you’re earning 3% cash back with the Discover It Miles Card, the $5.95 fee isn’t so bad. For example, on $10,000 in Visa gift card purchases you’ll pay $119 in fees but earn $300 cash back.
That’s higher than the $79 you’d pay at Simon Mall. So I wouldn’t go this route unless you have no other options. Ideally, this source should be reserved for credit cards that earn category bonuses at supermarkets.
Office Supply Stores
Offie supply stores like Offie Depot and Staples sell $300 Visa gift cards for $8.95 each. You can even buy these cards at Staples.com, but you shouldn’t do that unless you’re earning category bonuses from your credit card.
So how is this relevant to the Discover It Miles card? Because Office Depot and Staples will often run in-store promotions offering $10 – $15 off on Visa gift cards. This not only eliminates fees altogether, it makes buying Visa gift cards profitable.
So even if you’re not earning 5x from the Chase Ink Plus, these promotions present a great opportunity to do some free manufactured spending. It’s an especially great opportunity to maximize the 3x from the Discover It Miles Card.
Plastiq Payments
I use Plastiq to earn miles on mortgage payments and other expenses I can’t charge directly to a credit card. Incidentally, Plastiq only accepts Discover and MasterCard for mortgage payments. That works out nicely if you’re trying to maximize the 3x bonus from the Discover It Miles card.
Retail arbitrage
Retail arbitrage, or “reselling” is pretty mainstream nowadays. There are tons of fascinating videos on Youtube of people “flipping” high-demand merchandise for profit at places like Marshalls, Nordstrom Rack and even the Dollar Tree. I’ve dabbled in retail arbitrage on a small scale.
I’ve shared how I used to follow Kate Middleton’s “high street” fashion picks and flip them on eBay for a 4x mark-up. Or how I’ve been able to resell makeup products from Walmart when they had a fire sale and everything was $1. Even Nordstrom Rack is a treasure trove of popular designer merchandise that you can sell on eBay for a nice profit.
My only issue with reselling? I’ve repeatedly had issues with buyers purchasing merchandise on Ebay and then not paying for it. I wasted a lot of time sitting around, waiting for payment and then re-listing only to have it happen again. In my experience, things sell faster on Ebay than Amazon, but it’s more of a hassle to actually get things sold.
Everyday spending
Earning 3% cash back is definitely worth considering channeling all your normal spending towards the Discover It Miles card. I’m not one to assign a strict value on points and miles, but a lot of people value most rewards currencies at an average of 1.8 cents each.
At that rate, most credit cards will get you the equivalent of 1.8% cash back on all spending. Clearly, 3% from the Discover It Miles card is the better option.
I would absolutely recommend charging all of your expenses that don’t qualify for category bonuses to the Discover It Miles card. Maybe even pre-pay your big bills, like insurance premiums. It’s worth it if you’re earning 3x miles your first year.
Refer a Friend
If you’re successfully generating lots of rewards with the Discover It Miles Card and want to spread the word, you can earn a $50 bonus for every friend you refer. Simply send them an invitation through the referral portal. Both of you will get a $50 statement credit when they get approved and make their first purchase.
As you may know by now, the miles earned from this card are actually the equivalent of cash back. Every mile is worth one cent each and you can redeem them towards travel statement credits or bank transfers.
Even though referring a friend doesn’t earn you more miles via the 3x bonus, you’re earning cash that you can use towards travel expenses or anything else.
If you’re applying for a Discover It Miles Card and would like a referral in order to earn a $50 bonus, please email me and I’ll get that over to you.
These are just a few ways you can generate extra spending to max out the 3x bonus on the Discover It Miles Card. What are some of the ways you’ve tried to generate extra spend during the first year?
My card arrives tomorrow. Thank you!!!! 😉
Sure thing! Thank you for using my link.
FYI-Yazing now pays out GiftCards.com on the same cycle as GCM (i.e. 90 days). Received that confirmation from the Yazing team when I noticed how long my payouts were taking. Have since switched to BeFrugal
Oh that sucks! With the 10% fee they’re tacking on, that’s definitely not worth it.
How much per week would you recommend MS’ing on this card if it’s new? I’d hate to get shut down and not receive the 1.5% bonus at the end of the year.
That’s tricky because YMMV. I went all in and started cycling the credit line and nothing happened. But that might not work out for you.
When I want to play it safe, I avoid cycling my credit line (i.e. maxing out repeatedly during the same billing cycle) or spending more than my stated income.