It's time for a closer look at both Capital One Quicksilver vs. Discover it® Cash Back. You can earn cash back on your spending with both, but they have some important differences in key areas.
Capital One Quicksilver vs. Discover it® Cash Back annual fee
You get all the perks of the Capital One Quicksilver (see rates and fees) at no annual fee cost to you. This effectively makes the card free for you, if you pay off your balance every month and don't pay interest.
Guess what? The Discover it® Cash Back also comes with a $0 annual fee. This is a benefit to you, but it also means we can't use the annual fee as a criteria to differentiate between our two contenders.
Winner: Tie
Capital One Quicksilver vs. Discover it® Cash Back welcome offer
All right, here's a point of significant difference between these two contenders. The Capital One Quicksilver's welcome offer is pretty conventional among credit cards. You'll earn $200 Cash Back for spending $500 in the first 3 months with the card. Can you transition at least $167 of your regular spending to this card for three months (without overspending)? Boom, you can earn the welcome bonus.
The Discover it® Cash Back could reward you handsomely if you can wait a year for your welcome bonus. Discover will match all the cash back you've earned at the end of your first year. This effectively doubles your earnings from everyday spending as well as in the 5% rotating quarterly bonus categories that you activate (note that your earnings in these are capped to the first $1,500 of spending). Wow!
Winner: Discover it® Cash Back
Capital One Quicksilver vs. Discover it® Cash Back intro APR
If you need to finance a large purchase over time, a card with a great 0% intro APR offer can be a real asset that can save you money (just be careful you can pay off your balance before the 0% intro APR reverts to the go-to APR -- as it'll be much higher).
Capital One Quicksilver (see rates and fees) comes with 0% intro APR on purchases for 15 months. And if you've got a balance elsewhere to pay off, you'll get 0% intro APR on balance transfers for 15 months (Balance transfer fee applies), as well. After those 15 months, an APR of 19.99% - 29.99% (Variable) applies.
The Discover it® Cash Back also comes with 0% intro APR on purchases for 15 months. And if you've got a balance to transfer cover, same deal. After the 15 months are up, you'll receive a 18.24% - 28.24% Variable APR on purchases and balances transferred to the card.
No winner here (or perhaps two winners here?), since you get the same generous intro APR offer for purchases and balance transfers with both options.
Winner: Tie
Capital One Quicksilver vs. Discover it® Cash Back rewards
Both options on the table are cash back cards, but how they earn differs. The Capital One Quicksilver is the more straightforward and easy of the two. You get 1.5% cash back across the board on your spending. That feature makes this card a standout for your everyday life:
- Spend $150 at the grocery store: $2.25 back
- Drop $50 at the bookstore: $0.75
- Buy a new washing machine for $600: $9
Your cash back builds over time. And if you're booking air travel or hotel stays, you'll earn 5% back by booking through Capital One Travel. That can be a nice bump to your cash back earnings if you're a traveler.
Discover it® Cash Back can help you maximize your earnings in rotating bonus categories -- every quarter, there's a new one. You just need to log into your Discover account every quarter to activate. And don't worry -- the categories you'll find will likely easily fit into your spending. You might see categories such as:
- Amazon shopping
- Groceries
- Restaurants
Just note that your cash back is capped to $1,500 of spending in a bonus category. Max this out for an entire year, and you'll earn $300 (5% of $6,000).
Plus, you'll earn 1% across the board on your non-bonus category spending. You can find a better flat rate with other cards (including the 1.5% offered by the competition in this breakdown), but getting the chance at 5% in rotating bonus categories makes Discover it® Cash Back the winner here -- very slightly.
Winner: Discover it® Cash Back (by a nose)