Evolve Update
A few days ago , we reported that Evolve now accepts Discover cards.
The big question remained: What will be with the 1% cashback? Will it earn cashback, or will it be specifically coded not to?
Additionally, many wondered whether it will work to trigger the 5% cashback Discover Q4 which is online purchases. Amazon Payments worked, will Evolve?
The questions seem to be put to rest now. Someone on Flyertalk asked these questions directly to Discover. They replied that it will earn 1%, but it won’t earn 5%.
Here’s the exact wording that Discover used:
In IT, things usually take time to work out all the kinks, so there is a slight possibility that it will earn 5%. For now, we should assume that it won’t until we hear such a report.
Visa and Mastercard
Beginning in 2015, Evolve will begin accepting Visa and Mastercard as well.
We can now ponder: will those be coded as regular purchases as well, or will they code as cash advances? If it will code as a regular purchase, will Evolve charge for Visa and Mastercard payments?
If Discover earn cashback, is that a sign that Visa and Mastercard will? I don’t think so. Discover clearly entered into a sort of partnership with Evolve; it doesn’t seem likely that Visa and Mastercard will too.
My personal guess is that it will code as a regular purchase, but there’ll be a fee to use Visa and Mastercard.
What will the fee be?
We’ll have to wait and see…
Our Verdict
The 5% is disappointing since I was hoping it would be an easy, free way of cashing out Discover Q4. That being said, there are other ways of cashing out Q4 by buying giftcards at GiftCardMall or GiftCards.com, among other options [Update: Grant reports that GiftCardMall does not code at 5%.]
But I’m super-excited that Discover officially states that the 1% will be paid out. I have two bills I pay with Evolve, so it will be a steady $19.98 per month profit for me.
It seems surprising that Discover is willing to pay-out 1% for people to pay off their mortgage, card loans, and store credit cards. Since Evolve is limited to once a month payments, it’s a sustainable thing, so I’d guess it will last for a while.
