Evolve Money Update and Discover It Cash Back Clarification ($50 Refer a Friend Bonus and 5% Cash Back at Walgreens)

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Evolve Money Update and Discover It Cash Back Clarification ($50 Refer a Friend Bonus and 5% Cash Back at Walgreens)

Good evening, the first half of this post is a follow up to Evolve Money Adds Discover Credit Cards as Bill Pay Payment Source (Visa and MasterCard Payments Coming in 2015).  We last left off with a $999 Evolve Money pending charge on my Discover It Credit Card.

Pending Evolve Money Payments in Discover Account

I am happy to report than the Evolve Money bill payment posted as a purchase.  It is still yet to be determined if these transactions will earn cash back (1%) and/or 5% cash back for being an online transaction for Discover It’s 4Q category bonus.  According to Doctor of Credit, Evolve Money bill payments should earn 1%, but not 5%.  We will see if he is right…

Evolve Money Payment Posted to Discover It Credit Card

The bill payment posted very quickly.  I think the Evolve Money relationship with Discover could be good.  I’m looking forward to when Visa and MasterCard join in 2015.

$999 Payment Posted

The second half of this post is a revision to Random News: AMEX Offers for Best Buy and Starbucks; and Discover It Cash Back Confusion.  In that post, I tried to decode my Discover It Credit Card cash back and figure out which transactions fit into each cash back section.

Discover It Cash Back 11-07-2014

I made these 6 transaction last month on my Discover It Credit Card:

Discover It Charges 11-07-2014

I am not sure if this is a new feature on Discover’s website or if I have just missed it for the last several months, but there is actually a very detailed cash back bonus summary on Discover’s website.  In early October, I forgot that I referred a friend to the Discover It Credit Card, which earned me a $50 referral bonus.

Discover it Cash Back Bonus Breakdown

The $55.15 cash back for the Shop Discover and Promotional section is made up of a $50 referral bonus and 2 Shop Discover portal payouts ($5.15 total).  If you have a Discover It Credit Card, you can refer your friends and family members and earn $50 per referral.

Discover $50 Referral Bonus

Discover It Cash Back Orbitz Discover It Cash Back Home Depot

The $35.69 cash back for the 5% Cash Back Bonus section confused me at first.  $35.69 / 5% = $713.69, which is made up of 3 transactions from Walgreens ($303.95 + $103.95 + $305.79).  I am not sure why the last $303.95 from November 4 did not earn 5%, but I hope it shows up on my next statement.

Discover-It-Charges-11-07-2014-Walgreens-Purchases

The last $18.43 cash back for the Everything Else section means that $1,843 was charged and only earned 1% cash back.  If I add up all the transactions from the last statement, the total spent was $2,843.71.  If I subtract the $1,000 in 5% Walgreens purchases, the remaining balance is $1,843.71.  It looked like I earned 1% on those purchases, so I earned $18.43 cash back.

2 surprises from analyzing Discover’s cash back sections:

  • GiftCardMall.com *does not* count as an online purchase, therefore not earning 5% cash back.
  • My November 4 Walgreen purchase did not earn 5% cash back this statement.  I will need to track that for next month and see if it shows up there.  I hope it does.

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


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31 thoughts on “Evolve Money Update and Discover It Cash Back Clarification ($50 Refer a Friend Bonus and 5% Cash Back at Walgreens)

  1. Lauren

    After reading your blog post, I decided to go check out my Discover It cash back earnings to see if I could determine which of my online purchases were actually earning the 5% cash back. However, I couldn’t find the “very detailed cash back bonus summary” you mentioned anywhere on my account site. Could you give a little guidance as to exactly where you found that. I’m sure it’s right in front of my face & I’ve just missed it! Thanks :)

    Reply
    1. Grant

      It’s not super obvious like it should be. I believe you have to look at past statements and in a small box on the right hand side you will see cash back details. There is also a link that takes you to a page with all the details (the screenshot with red boxes and text). If you can’t find it, let me know and I will hunt it down.

      Reply
    1. Grant

      You are right Shawn. The $150 sign up bonus is better (I signed up with that offer last year). When the Discover It Credit Card has no sign up bonus (most of the year), then you can refer your friends / family members.

      Reply
  2. Andrew C

    Weirdness on mine too. I had a single (>$1000) Walgreens transaction on mine. The part over $1k ($9.90, to be exact) did earn 1%, but nothing posted for that base $1k. I’m sure it’ll post on the next statement, or the one after that promo ends.

    Reply
  3. Taro

    The 5% Discover It store promo is only for the first $1000, so I wonder if you have to make your cumulative qualified purchases be $1000 or under. That would explain why your Nov 4 Walgreen purchase did not get the 5%. Perhaps you can try buying something else at Walgreen’s for $286.31 or under and see if you get the 5% right away?

    Reply
    1. Grant

      I think you only earn cash back when the statement closes, not as soon as the purchase posts to the account. I’m 90% sure the remaining 5% Walgreens cash back will post next statement.

      Reply
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  5. Jake

    I did earn 5% cash back at Walgreen. Thanks for letting us know that giftcardmall.com didn’t earn 5%, I was about to go this route.

    Reply
  6. HaleyB

    Cal State Fullerton? I did my B.A. and half of an M.A. there.
    Also went to HS in Brea. It used to be right across the street from the mall.

    Reply
  7. Frank

    Grant, spending within 7 days of your statement close will result in your CB not being posted until the following statement close.

    Reply
    1. Andrew C

      This doesn’t jive with my latest statement, as I posted above. I got the 1% base cashback on the WG amount over $1k, even though it posted 2 days before statement close. Maybe this rule only applies to bonus? In any case, I’m confident it’ll post next month or I’ll solve it with one email.

      Reply
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