Discover it Chrome review: A gas and restaurants cash-back card that doubles your rewards in year 1

It doesn't matter how carefully you planned your spending for the month, gas is expensive and those $8 lunches add up. But for consumers who spend regularly at the pump and dining out, Discover offers a card that's got your back in these two particularly money-draining areas. The Discover it® Chrome offers 2% cash back at gas stations and restaurants on up to $1,000 in combined purchases each quarter, then 1%. Plus, cardholders earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases automatically.

Discover also offers a unique welcome bonus: For new card members in the first year only, Discover will automatically match all the cash back you've earned at the end of your first year, without the need to enroll or sign up or hit a certain spending requirement. This helps Discover it® Chrome stand out among many excellent credit cards for gas and restaurant spending.

Below, Select breaks down the rewards and benefits associated with the Discover it® Chrome to help you decide if it's the right card for you.

• Discover it® Chrome rewards
• Additional benefits
• Bottom line

Discover it® Chrome cardholders benefit from earning 2% cash back at gas stations and restaurants on up to $1,000 in combined purchases each quarter, then 1%. They also earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases automatically. As a welcome bonus for new card members in the first year only, Discover will automatically match all the cash back you've earned in cash back at the end of your first year, without any special enrollment or spending requirements.

Select calculated how many rewards the average American can earn if they optimize the way they use their Discover it® Chrome. We worked with the location intelligence firm Esri, who provided us with a sample annual spending budget of $22,126.

The budget includes six main categories: groceries ($5,174), gas ($2,218), dining out ($3,675), travel ($2,244), utilities ($4,862) and general purchases ($3,953).

Here's a breakdown of how much cash back you can earn in each category, annually:

• Groceries: $52
• Gas: $37
• Dining out: $62
• Travel: $22
• Utilities: $49
• General purchases: $40
• Total: $280

Based on the annual spending budget from Esri, the average American can earn an estimated $523 in the first year of card membership since Discover automatically matches all of your first-year cash back dollar-for-dollar. Over five years, you can earn $1,568 in cash back. This assumes that cardholders are redeeming cash back for a typical value of 1 cent each. Extreme optimizers might be able to achieve more value, and you may earn a higher or lower return depending on your spending habits.

There is no minimum for the amount of cash back you have to earn before you can start redeeming it. This is a nice feature, considering many popular cards, like the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express, have redemption minimums of around $25. Terms apply.

There's a wide variety of options to choose from when it is time to redeem the value of your points. The most common redemption method is an electronic deposit or statement credit. Discover also partners with Amazon.com so you can cash in your points at checkout by opting to pay with rewards when you shop online.

You can also redeem your cash back for gift cards to your favorite stores. This option is available to cardholders once they earn $5 in cash back or more. And if you have a favorite nonprofit organization, Discover it® Chrome cardholders can use their cash back points to donate to important causes, starting at a 1 cent minimum donation.

Discover offers a few benefits that focus on consumer protection. First, the Freeze it® feature lets cardholders switch their accounts "on" and "off" if they misplace or lose their cards. This prevents unauthorized charges while your card is lost, and if you find out that it merely slipped in between the couch cushions, you have the flexibility to reactivate the same card without skipping a beat.

Like most credit cards, Discover customers have free access to their FICO credit score.

The Discover it® Chrome can earn you $1,568 in cash back over five years — and $523 in your first year alone. Cardholders who spend regularly at gas stations and restaurants will get the most from this card, with 2% cash back in these two categories, up to $1,000 in combined purchases each quarter (after 1%), and 1% on all other other purchases automatically.

As with any cash-back or rewards credit card, it's important to know how each cash-back category is defined. With the Discover it® Chrome, gas stations that are affiliated with superstores, supermarkets, discount stores, warehouse clubs or wholesale distributors may not qualify for the 2% cash-back benefit.

Likewise, restaurants are defined as full-service restaurants, cafes, cafeterias and fast-food chains.

For an-all around cash-back credit card that rewards every kind of spending, Select recommends getting a cash-back credit card with unlimited points, like the Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card (see rates and fees), which could earn you $1,800 over 5 years.

To determine which credit cards offer the best value, Select analyzed 234 of the most popular credit cards available in the U.S. We compared each card on a range of features, including rewards, welcome bonus, introductory and standard APR, balance transfer fee and foreign transaction fees, as well as factors such as required credit and customer reviews when available. We also considered additional perks, the application process and how easy it is for the consumer to redeem points.

Select teamed up with location intelligence firm Esri. The company's data development team provided the most up-to-date and comprehensive consumer spending data based on the 2019 Consumer Expenditure Surveys from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. You can read more about their methodology here.

Esri's data team created a sample annual budget of approximately $22,126 in retail spending. The budget includes six main categories: groceries ($5,174), gas ($2,218), dining out ($3,675), travel ($2,244), utilities ($4,862) and general purchases ($3,953). General purchases include items such as housekeeping supplies, clothing, personal care products, prescription drugs and vitamins, and other vehicle expenses.

Select used this budget to estimate how much the average consumer would save over the course of a year, two years and five years, assuming they would attempt to maximize their rewards potential by earning all welcome bonuses offered and using the card for all applicable purchases. All rewards total estimations are net the annual fee.

While the five-year estimates we've included are derived from a budget similar to the average American's spending, you may earn a higher or lower return depending on your shopping habits.

For rates and fees of the Discover it® Chrome, click here.