This new card from Discover warrants some discussion. Its features include:

• 5% Cashback Bonus on your first $2,000 in office supply purchases
• 2% on your first $2,000 in gas purchases
• 1% on all other purchases in excess of $5,000
• 0.25% on your first $5,000 in other purchases
• Fee-free PurchaseChecks that earn Cashback Bonus and come with the same rate and payment grace period as your Card
• Pay bills or suppliers (excluding rent/mortgage and payroll) that don’t accept credit cards
• Get the same competitive rate and payment grace period as your Card
• Earn Cashback Bonus on every check
• Use them with confidence—you’re protected with $0 fraud liability guarantee

When reading these bullet points, a few things pop out at first glance. Because of the limitations on office supplies and gas purchases and the fact that you only earn 1% after you’ve spent $5,000, you’ll be required to spend at least $1,000 on other spending that earns only 0.25%. Combine this with the fact that there are many other 5% cash back cards for office supplies and gas (eg, Advanta Business), and the cash back component of this card is not attractive.

What is intriguing are the “PurchaseChecks” that allow you to pay bills that otherwise could not be paid via credit card and earn cash back. Since the promotional material explicitly states that you aren’t supposed to use them to pay rent/mortgage or payroll with the checks, you would assume that some sort of auditing must be done. Unfortunately more details are not supplied on the web site. Depending upon how this feature is actually implemented, this feature alone might make this card worthwhile for some. Comments from readers who get this card on this aspect would be most welcome.

For more details or to apply for the card, see this link.