From now till January 4th, 2009, Discover is giving away a $20 gift card for every $200 you spend on your Discover Card at malls participating in the promotion nationwide, effectively a 10% cash back — especially hot if you’re already planning to spend that very amount at select malls.

The promotion terms:

  • Find the 160 participating malls here.
  • Get a $20 Discover gift card when you make $200 in purchases at participating mall between 11/01/08 to 01/04/09, while supplies last.
  • Present original receipts and Discover card used to make purchase at mall’s Customer Service by 01/04/09 to claim gift cards.
  • Limit 5 gift cards per account (effectively $100 off $1000 per Discover account).

You get more gift cards if you spend in multiples of $200. I did a quick search and it looks like the participating malls in my area are the expensive upscale ones, but don’t let that deter you, as you can easily spend in multiples of $200 by buying gift cards at select stores.

Sneaky loophole: You can return the purchased items and keep the gift card as there’s no requirement to return the gift card. Up to you if this is ethical or not. If you’re truly returning something because it blows then this should be a non-issue.

Don’t have a Discover card?

Here’s two decent ones that will qualify for this promotion:

Discover More card currently gives $50 cash bonus after spending $500. 1% unlimited cash back on all other purchases and 5% back in select rotating categories (occasionally very hot whenever Discover rolls in the gas, restaurant, and grocery categories for select months).

Discover Miles card currently offers 12,000 bonus miles, which you can claim for $100 cash credit on any travel purchase, or request a $50 gift card along with $25 cash.  The 12,000 bonus miles are earned in increments of 1,000 miles each month you make any purchase, for 12 months. It’s an okay deal as any purchase per month will qualify for the additional 1,000 bonus miles.

I’ve been thinking of opening a Discover More card to take advantage of their rotating 5% cash back categories, and this current promotion may just be enough to sway me into opening yet another card. Will definitely post a review if I open an account.

From [MyMoneyBlog].