Credit card rewards: Ebucks vs DiscoveryCard

[deekay]

Hi all,

I'm sure this is asked before but I can't make up my mind between two credit card rewards programs ebucks or Discovery Card. Based on my reading these appear to be the best ones and I'm looking to finally getting some reward for my credit card spend.

I figure I only spend a few grand a month on my credit card maybe R2000 but sometimes more, but at the moment I don't get any sort of benefit on my Standard Bank blue credit card which I had for years. I basically use my credit card as debit card paying up before any interest accrues - interest rate is not really an issue just cash back and/or discounts.

My main expenses are shopping I do shopping regularly at Pick n Pay and petrol/maintainence for the driving which my job requires a lot of with my personal car and would be looking to find the best rewards program to take advantage of this and would like to hear your guys opinions.

 

[HavocXphere]

I'm looking to finally getting some reward for my credit card spend.

:erm: These schemes work just like Outsurance. You give them cash and they give you *your* own cash back & call it a reward/bonus. Complete waste of time. Rather compare the rates on the cards.

 

[noxibox]

If you're on Vitality I find I get much more back on the Discovery Card.

:erm: These schemes work just like Outsurance. You give them cash and they give you *your* own cash back & call it a reward/bonus. Complete waste of time. Rather compare the rates on the cards.

It's not the same at all.

 

[Archer]

Discovery + vitality if you feel the need to earn "rewards." I get around R100-150 back each month for buying healthy food which I would have bought anyway.

 

[Fudzy]

Just thought of something, both the Discovery card and eBucks are FNB products, has anyone seen anywhere that states you cannot enable eBucks on your discovery card?

 

[Mars]

I have both.

I think I enjoy the ebucks a little more than the discovery card, but we save on both. The difference being that I usually spend the ebucks on something cool from Kalahari or Digital Planet.

Although when we had our first child we used the discovery card to buy everything we needed in a two month period and spent about R15k on stuff we got just short of R2k back on the lot.

That reminds me I have about R500 in ebucks, time to hunt for something cool....

 

[broken1]

Just thought of something, both the Discovery card and eBucks are FNB products, has anyone seen anywhere that states you cannot enable eBucks on your discovery card?

Discovery Card is not an FNB product. It's a Discovery product supported by FNB. Semantics.

You can earn discovery miles, which are similar to ebucks, on your discovery card purchases.

 

[Fudzy]

Discovery Card is not an FNB product. It's a Discovery product supported by FNB. Semantics.

You can earn discovery miles, which are similar to ebucks, on your discovery card purchases.

Ah okay, pity

 

[Mars]

Discovery Card is not an FNB product. It's a Discovery product supported by FNB. Semantics.

You can earn discovery miles, which are similar to ebucks, on your discovery card purchases.

No. Thats wrong. Totally wrong actually.

They are both RMB products. FNB is part of RMB and Discovery is also part of RMB.

You can earn Discovery miles, but they are not like ebucks. Ebucks are way better. Discovery miles are a bolt on the Discovery card costing an extra R250 a year. Not really worth it IMO.

The thing about the discovery card is the cash back you earn depending on your vitality status.
We get between R200 and R500 paid back into the discovery card every month. (we have not activated Discovery Miles)
If you have kids then the discovery card will be a win for you, because the toy shops and baby stores are on the list for them. Think nappies, formula, and stuff other than only toys, that means between 8 and 15% back into your card from all that.
Also depending on your vitality status you get large discounts on flights and car hire ect, Higher vitality = more money back.

You can have ebucks without a Credit card, you just have to have a fnb cheque account. You could use this in conjuction with the discovery card if you wanted, but the best way to earn ebucks is by using your fnb credit card at one of the approved places , like Makro, and then swipe the ebucks card also. Then you earn tripple points.

I would suggest talking to your broker about the Discovery card. they will be able to tell you what exactly your discounts and pay backs will be depending on your profile.

Also take a good look at the Ebucks site.

I have both and both are awesome for me.
over the past 3 years or so I have gotten the following for free with my ebucks: A Graphire tablet, about 10 blue ray movies ,Harmony remote ,Wireless sing star mic's ,numerous books ,Wii controller , a few PS3 games and a cordless phone for home.

 

[Johand]

e-bucks Rules!

I have been an FNB client for almost two years and I can tell you e-bucks totally rocks. I buy absolutely everything with my FNB credit card (and clear it at the end of each month otherwise this won't work) and I get e-bucks - you essentially get 1% of all your credit card spend back. But getting 1% back adds up to a lot of money over time...

What I used my e-bucks for in the past:
1) Rented a car - got free top-up insurance and a better price than anywhere else.
2) Bought stuff from Look and Listen.
3) Bought stuff from Kalahari.

I use my e-bucks as a treat - but if you don't think of it as that, then I suggest just filling your car-up at Engen with e-bucks, then you have the cash you would have spent on petrol. Or you can save up and buy something big (my boss bought himself a R8000 watch with ebucks ).

Of course to the person that said it is your money anyway... he is only halfway right. It is actually a tragedy of the commons scenario: You don't pay anything for credit card transactions. But the merchant pays anything from 1.5% to 15% per transaction. So merchants do put their price up to cover transaction cost - but they put the price up for EVERYBODY, meaning that cash buyers essentially subsidize your e-bucks! Actually this sounds pretty evil - but remember, other credit card companies keeps everything to themselves!

FNB makes out ahead because of the following:
1) e-bucks are backed by real money, meaning there is a large pool of money which they invest (I think it is something like a billion bucks). Nobody earns interest on e-bucks . Not only do you contribute to that pool through transactions, but also through their earning partners.
2) They process transactions of their partners, on which they make money
3) A portion of credit card users overspend because of it (and then FNB is smiling all the way!)

 

[Bern]

thread update?

So there are some new things to be added i guess Johand are you still of the same opinion? I have a Discovery CC and an FNB Cheque setup and am trying to figure out if it is better to use the Discovery card or FNB ebucks reward scheme. I am a vitality member, so PnP etc is working well.

 

[noxibox]

I'd go with using the Discovery card for Pick n Pay only.

 

[bromster]

If you are going to fully commit to Discovery, then it is worth it. I have Gold Vitality Status, Credit Card, Go to Gym, Travel a bit etc. and I get decent money back every month which I normally would not.

A few things worth noting on Discovery:

1) Medical Aid prices keep going up, and benefits keep coming down.
2) I used to get 75% back on my Pick 'n Pay HealthyFood by means of the Medical Savings Booster. Now it has been reduced to 25%, plus a smart shopper multiplier. Another indication of how they keep taking the benefits away slowly every year.
3) Medical Savings Booster was AWESOME! But yes... as usual... they took it away and replaced it with some useless "Health Wallet" crap which you have to pay for, making it no longer viable.
4) Discovery miles is not worth it for you. You need to spend R5k p/m on your CC to break even.
5) The overall Credit Card experience is very good. No problems yet. They used to phone you as soon as they saw suspicious purchases online etc, now they just send you an SMS to call THEM. No doubt another money saving measure.
6) Vitality Mall is crap. It is basically buying regular priced stuff.
7) You have to choose between Pick n Pay / Woolworths. You can only have 25% discount at one, 10% at the other. So choose wisely. I think I will do the bulk of my shopping at Pick n Pay to get my bonus Smart Shopper Points, then go to Woolies for my Healthy Stuff because of the variety.
8) Discovery Insurance is a LOT more expensive than Miway for my car. Sure, they offer fuel discount, free car hire etc, but you definitely pay for it indirectly.

That's my opinion, but our company forces us to go with them, so I had to make it work for me. That being said, there is definitely opportunity to save big cash with Discovery. i.e HealthyCare at Clicks (25% off), HealthGear at TotalSports (up to 45% off adidas, 20% off other) etc.

 

[SirFooK'nG]

I have Both cards, at present I could cancel the Discovery card, never use it. I get eBucks when I shop at Macro every month, better value for me. Every year I purchase my & the wifes PC games with eBucks at Look & Listen. Also Discovery miles do expire.... (so I found out)

 

[noxibox]

8) Discovery Insurance is a LOT more expensive than Miway for my car. Sure, they offer fuel discount, free car hire etc, but you definitely pay for it indirectly.

And they wanted to put some ridiculous monitoring device in my car. I suggested an alternative location where they were welcome to install their gadget.

 

[shooter_za]

I "earn" between 1000 and 1500 ebucks per month with a gold credit card. I use it all to buy pre-paid electricity directly from the FNB site which is quite handy.

 

[^^vampire^^]

Virgin Money Credit Card - no monthly fees who wants rewards.
Discovery Vitality with healthy eating card - get back R100-R200 rand per month.
This means I cover my vitality cost and make more on top of that.

 

[Bern]

Virgin Money Credit Card - no monthly fees who wants rewards.
Discovery Vitality with healthy eating card - get back R100-R200 rand per month.
This means I cover my vitality cost and make more on top of that.

Ya, have one of those. Problem is their service aint great and worst of all it is essentially an ABSA card, so have to use ABSA internet banking which is rubbish