The Discover Card, issued by Discover Financial (NYSE:DFS), is one of my favorite credit cards when it comes to 0% intro APR offers on purchases and balance transfers, in addition to its great cash rewards program. As a rewards card, it lets you earn cash rebates in return for your spending, so it’s really like having a discount card with you.

I’ll do a review of the flagship Discover Credit Card (with no signing bonus), one of the best cash back cards in the US, tell you what’s so great about this Discover card, and how we rate it.

Things We Like About This Card

No annual fee. Enjoy the cash back rewards and other exclusive cardholder benefits of this card at no charge at all.

0% introductory APR on balance transfers. For the first 15 months, you will enjoy a 0% introductory APR on all balance transfers. This is a good deal if you plan to take advantage of the intro 0% balance transfer by transferring your high-interest credit card debt or store card debt to this new card account, so that you pay ZERO interest on your transferred balance for 15 months! This allows you to pay off your existing debt faster as you stop paying interest on it. After the 15 months, your APR will be 10.99% – 20.99%, depending on your credit score. Make sure you can pay off all your debts within the 15 months so that you won’t incur the higher non-promotional interest rates. Balance transfer fee is 3%.

0% introductory APR on all your purchases. You will also enjoy the benefit of having a 0% introductory APR on all your purchases for 15 months, after that you will have to pay the regular APR, which is between 10.99% – 20.99% depending on your credit score. This 15-month period of 0% APR on purchases is a very good offer as it is one of the longest offered by credit card companies in the US. So if you are thinking of buying a big ticket item, and have 15 months to pay it off interest-free, you’ll make the most out of this card.

Earn 5% Cashback Bonus in rotating categories. This is another attractive benefit this card will offer you. It can help you save a lot of money by giving you 5% cash back in rotating categories such as gas, travel, restaurants, etc, which change throughout the year. Important note: You must sign up (it’s free and you can do it online or through the phone) for each 5% program! If you spend more than the specified amount for each 5% program, the excess will automatically earn up to 1% cash back.

Here are the 5% cashback categories for 2012:

Receive up to 1% unlimited cash back on all other purchases. You will receive an unlimited 1% rebate on all the rest of your purchases, but only once your total annual purchases exceed $3000. Purchases that are part of your first $3000 earn 0.25% rebate. Keep in mind that warehouse purchases or 5% category purchases do not count towards your total annual purchases.

Redeem Cashback Bonus for gift cards, merchandise, or cold hard cash in the form of a direct deposit to your bank account or a credit to your Discover card account in $50 increments, starting at $50. What we like about their cash rebates is that you can double the value of your rebates by redeeming them for certain gift cards (over 100 partner stores). To give you some examples, a $40 rebate can be redeemed for a $80 Carnival Cruise or $80 Celebrity Cruises gift card or instant eCertificate; a $40 rebate can be redeemed for a $100 certificate from Hyatt Hotels & Resorts; a $20 rebate can be exchanged for a $40 Samsonite gift card!

Up to double Cashback Bonus. You can earn up to a double Cashback Bonus when redeeming your rebates for gift certificates from participating retailers. (See above)

Rebates don’t expire. Your rebates never expire unless your credit card account is inactive for more than 36 months.

Earn rewards for paying your monthly household bills with your card. Set up automatic recurring payments for your cable, cell phone, insurance, internet etc on your Discover Card, and you earn Cashback Bonus with every bill you pay!

Balance transfer fee of 3%. This is a relatively low balance transfer fee you have to pay when transferring your balance from another credit card account to this account. The 0% intro APR on balance transfers for the first 15 months gives you the opportunity to pay off your existing credit card debt without interest within 15 months.

Travel insurance. This credit card can also be very useful for your travels since it provides up to $500,000 in travel accident insurance, as well as car rental insurance and many fraud and security protection services.

$0 Fraud Liability Guarantee. If there are any unauthorized transactions on your Discover card, you won’t have to pay a single cent for it!

Our Least Favorite Things About This Card

Only receive 1% cash back if you spend more than $3,000 a year. You only start receiving the 1% rebate on all your purchases after you spend more than $3,000 during the year. So if you’re not planning on spending so much money, you will get a smaller amount in cash back percentage.

Our Verdict: 4.7/5 Stars

If you think you’ll spend more than $3,000 during the year (in order to obtain the 1% cash back), and would like to get 15 months of 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers, you should consider getting the Discover Card. It is a solid cash back card to have since you can save quite a lot of money through rebates.

If you don’t plan on spending $3000 on the card during one year, you might want to consider the Chase Freedom – $100 Bonus Cash Back credit card (read our review of Chase Freedom) which gives you a minimum of 1% cash back on all purchases and 5% cash back on quarterly rotating categories.

The Discover Card is also very good for balance transfers, since you get 0% intro APR for balance transfers for the first 15 months. You might want to make a note on your calendar when the 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers end, so that you can budget your spending in advance.

It is also one of the best cash back cards as you can get 5% cash back on different categories throughout the year. You might also want to consider carrying a few different cash back cards so as to maximize your rebates when a particular card has a higher rebate on a certain category. We highly recommend this Discover Card. Apply online now and you’ll get a response within 60 seconds.

Click here to go to Discover’s official website to apply online for Discover Card now.