Discover Open Road Credit Card Review
Thursday, February 24th, 2011Last Updated: 7/7/2011
Read the rest of this entry »
The Discover Open Road Card is a cash back card specializing in gas and restaurant rewards. It is hands down one of the most, if not the most, complex rewards programs that I have ever come across. It’s so complex that it took me a full 30 minutes just to figure out how to program it into the PlasticIQ Ranking Engine. While we are big fans of Discover and tout some of their cards, unfortunately this card isn’t one of them (not per se because of the complexity, but simply because the rewards don’t add up).
The Discover Motiva credit card is aimed at the ultra-profitable segment of the credit-using population that pays their minimum balances each month, but nevertheless carries a balance. 
While there are some amazing airline and hotel loyalty credit cards out there, there’s something special about pure cash back credit cards that’s spiritually appealing to our inner capitalist selves. Out with black-out dates and annoying reservation systems; in with statement credits and instant gratification. 
The American Express Blue Sky credit card is another one of those cards masquerading as a travel credit card, yet behaving more like a cash back card with some redemption restrictions. Thus, on PIQ’s Plastic Ranking Engine you will find the AMEX Blue Sky card in both the travel and cash back categories. 
The Capital One No Hassle Cash Rewards credit card is a fairly straightforward cashback credit card. It’s not an all-star card, but neither is it a laggard–somewhat North of middle-of-the-pack. One callout is that Capital One tends to tailor their offers based on your credit worthiness. 
Last Reviewed: 8/1/2010
The Penfed Visa Platinum Gas card might be called a hidden gem. The value proposition of this card is very straightforward: its awesome for gas rewards (5% cashback)–but plain Jane on all other purchases (1% cashback). 
The Amex Blue Cash Card (NO LONGER AVAILABLE) is a force to be reckoned with, ranking near the top of the pack if you spend enough on the card. If used skillfully, Blue Cash can earn an effective cashback rate of 3% or even more. 
There are three levels of Amex Rewards—Membership Rewards Express, Membership Rewards (which is what this article is focused on), and Membership Rewards First. We have blogged separately about the Express program in our post 
There are actually 2 tiers of the American Express Membership Rewards Program—the MR tier (this is the “full” program) and the Express Tier (which is identical to the MR tier except that you can’t transfer points to other frequent flyer/hotel programs). The Express Rewards program typically applies to AMEX cards that don’t charge annual fees, such as Blue From American Express.