New Discover It Chrome Card and Minor Changes to the PayPal Business Debit Card Terms

In other credit card related news, Discover announced a new version of the Discover It… the Discover It Chrome Card.  I personally like the color better.  The new version of the Discover It credit card now earns 2% cash back on all restaurant purchases and gas station purchases, year round.  There is a cap, however.  You can only earn 2% cash back on the first $1,000 of combined purchases each quarter.

Will I convert my regular Discover It credit card (5% rotating categories) to a card that earns 2% at restaurant and gas stations.  No.  It is hard to argue that 2% cash back on gas year round is better than 5% cash back on gas this quarter and 1% the other 3 quarters.  Plus, 2% cash back on restaurants is not that great either.  I have an old Citi Forward card that earns 5% cash back at restaurants year round.  Plus, I think rotating cash back offers have a higher payout over the year.  This card seems aimed at the Capital One Quicksilver market and to college students / young adults.  You can learn more about the new Discover It Chrome Card here.

In other news, I got an email from PayPal this morning regarding changes to the PayPal Business Debit Card.  You can read the entire TOC here.

Amendment to the PayPal Business Debit MasterCard® Cardholder Agreement and Privacy Notice.  Effective Date: August 19, 2014

The name of the cardholder agreement has been changed to include the Bancorp Privacy Notice, which can be found at the bottom of the Cardholder Agreement.

Section 7 – PayPal Debit MasterCard Fees, is being amended to clarify that the Foreign Transaction Fee also applies to Debit Card ATM Withdrawals From and for use at a non-US ATM. This section will now read:

Section 8.c. is being amended to clarify when Cash Back Program payouts will be made. This section will now read: Payout. The cash back will be calculated at the end of each calendar month and added to your PayPal Account Balance. Payouts must be at least $1.00 USD per month for the amount to be added to your PayPal Account Balance. Otherwise, $0.00 USD will be added to your PayPal Account Balance for that previous month.

Section 8.d. is being amended to clarify that your debit card must be active for the last 12 consecutive months or your account will no longer be enrolled in the Cash Back Program. This section will now read: Your Business Debit Card must be active (used for at least one eligible online or signature based purchase) in the past twelve (12) consecutive months or your account will no longer be enrolled in the Cash Back Program. You must re-enroll in Cash Back to be eligible to begin accruing cash back again.

Moral of the story: use your PayPal Business Debit Card once every month and spend more than $100 to earn at least $1.00 cash back every month.  You will now be charged 1% for all foreign ATM withdrawals (done in US Dollars).  For example, if I take out 100 Euros from my PayPal account with my PayPal Business Debit Card, the FOREX fee will be 1 Euro = $1.36 currently.  You will also be responsible for any foreign ATM merchant fees, which may be an additional 1-3%.

In sadder news, it is very sad to hear about another disaster on a Malaysia Airlines flight.  Looking at the Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur flight on GC Map (actual flight path may be different) shows the most direct flight path goes over a portion of Ukraine.  I feel bad for Malaysia Airlines since they have probably flown this route hundreds or thousands of times before without any incident.  Also, many airlines who fly between Europe, the Middle East, and Asia probably fly over the same air space.  It could have happened to any airline, but this is another bad mark for Malaysia Airlines.  Even before the first incident, the airline was in poor financial health.  I can’t imagine it being around for much longer.  My thoughts are with the friends and family members tonight.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.