Pablo Averbuj

Life Copies Art: Discover Card Watches “Office Space”

I am just doing my weekly mail/bill review and I get a nice note from Discover Card (which I only rarely use) telling me about changes to my agreement. A rough look says nothing is in favor of the consumer. But this is the gem that prompted me to write this blog entry:

We are changing how we determine your Cashback Bonus. When we calculate your Cashback BOnus at the end of each billing period, we will round down to the nearest cent, rather than rounding to the nearest cent.

I believe I saw this scheme in Office Space. I believe it ended up with building being burnt down. Most of the other changes in the agreement are equally shameful and one-sided. The late fee now depends on your balance. If it’s less than $250, your late feel is $19, otherwise $39.

I don’t particularly care. I carry it for the same reason I carry Visa. There do exist places that only take Discover (interestingly, City of Arlington is one of these). I also use these when I need to make a set of purchases I want to track separately. If I go on vacation or a business trip, I’ll (try to) use only my Discover Card. That way at the end it’s easy to see how much I spent without doing special tracking.