NHL® Discover it® Credit Card Review: Show Team Pride and Earn Cash Back Rewards

When you're a hockey fan, you show it. From hats and jerseys to car flags and -- credit cards? Yes, you can show off your favorite team every time you swipe with the NHL® Discover it® Credit Card. Plus, you'll earn unlimited cash back on your purchases and pay no annual fee. The bonus cash back system is a little complicated, but it can be lucrative for the right person. Check out our full NHL® Discover it® Credit Card review to see if it's the right card for you (and your team).

This credit card is a good fit for: Hockey fans who also like to maximize credit card rewards.

Top perks

This card has a range of perks that can add a lot of value.

Choose a card design inspired by any NHL team

We've done a lot of credit card reviews, and few issuers let you express your interests quite like Discover®. The NHL® Discover it® Credit Card gives you access to cards inspired by every NHL team, from the Anaheim Ducks to the Washington Capitals -- and every team in between. You can even support the newest addition to the league with a Seattle Kraken card.

Your NHL® Discover it® Credit Card will sport a full-color logo for the team of your choice. The background will also have a subtle, watermark-style logo. Even the background color will match your team's colors. For example, the Philadelphia Flyers card sports a vivid orange background, while the Colorado Avalanche card has a rich maroon background.

Earn up to 5% cash back rewards

The NHL® Discover it® Credit Card shares the same rewards system as its sibling card, the Discover it® Cash Back. You'll earn unlimited 1% cash back on purchases, and up to a 5% Cashback Bonus® on purchases that fall into the rotating quarterly bonus categories. Just activate your bonus rewards each quarter and you're good to go. The 5% cash back rewards are capped at the first $1,500 in purchases each quarter.

Each quarter usually offers at least two bonus categories. For instance, one quarter may be grocery stores and gym memberships. Any purchases that fall into either of those categories would be eligible for 5% cash back that quarter as long as you activated your bonus rewards and are under the rewards cap.

Rotating 5% Cashback Bonus® categories for eligible Discover credit cards are announced on a quarterly basis. Once the announcement is made, you can go online to activate the categories and begin earning at the 5% rate as soon as the quarter begins. You can visit our Discover cash back calendar page to find the bonus categories for the current quarter.

Unlimited cashback match sign-up bonus

Credit card sign-up bonuses are pretty common these days, but once again, Discover puts its own unique spin on the idea. Instead of a typical bonus that requires you spend a set amount in the first three months, Discover has the Cashback Match.

With Cashback Match, Discover will match all the cash back you've earned at the end of your first year. For example, if you earn $300 in cash back during your first year, Discover will give you an extra $300. The Cashback Match bonus is paid out after the end of your first year, and it only applies to rewards earned during your first year of card ownership for new cardholders.

Intro 0% APR

Even the best cash back cards can be taken down a notch by pricey interest fees. But the NHL® Discover it® Credit Card gives you a break: 15 months of introductory 0% APR. This gives you more than a year of zero interest on your purchases during the intro period, making it ideal for any big buys you may need a few months to pay off (like, say, a couple of tickets to the Stanley Cup).

What's more, the offer is for intro 0% APR on balance transfers, too. This makes the NHL® Discover it® Credit Card a solid option for transferring any high-interest card balances that could benefit from a lower interest rate. Watch out for the balance transfer fee, though (more on that below).

After the intro period expires, the purchase and balance transfer APRs will return to the go-to 17.24% to 28.24%, variable APR.

No annual card fee

Being a diehard fan comes with a lot of expenses -- those seats right behind the penalty box aren't cheap! But your NHL® Discover it® Credit Card doesn't have to add to the cost of showing your team pride because there's no annual card fee. Even in the offseason, you won't have to worry about how much your card is costing you to keep around. This applies to authorized users, too, making it easy to have the whole family share the team spirit.

No foreign transaction fees

Want to hit the road for an away game in Canada? You can take your NHL® Discover it® Credit Card with you without worry. The NHL® Discover it® Credit Card doesn't charge any foreign transaction fees. You can swipe at concessions, at the hotel, and anywhere else your trip takes you without paying extra fees on your foreign transactions.

That comfort applies at home, too; transactions that route through foreign banks can mean foreign transaction fees on other cards. The NHL® Discover it® Credit Card's 0% foreign transaction fees have you covered both home and away.

What could be improved

There are a few places where this card comes up short.

No NHL discounts or other perks

For a card that advertises as "The official credit card of the NHL," the hockey perks are limited. In fact, they're limited to the design itself. While it's great that you can share your team spirit every time you make a purchase, it'd be nice if the NHL® Discover it® Credit Card also came with some team discounts. Having some sort of deal or discount on hockey tickets would be fantastic. But even a modest discount on the NHL.com shop would be a nice perk. It seems like a missed opportunity to not offer any of these.

Balance transfer fee

One of the perks of the NHL® Discover it® Credit Card is the intro 0% APR on balance transfers. But, as mentioned above, that perk isn't entirely without its drawbacks. To get the 0% intro rate on balance transfers, you need to transfer eligible balances within the intro period. You'll also need to pay the 3% intro balance transfer fee, up to 5% fee on future balance transfers (see terms)*. While you get a reduced balance transfer fee of 3% during the intro period, that 3% can still add up on a large balance. For example, a $5,000 transfer would come with a $150 balance transfer fee. The fee increases to 5% after the intro period.

The NHL® Discover it® Credit Card is meant for applicants with good to excellent credit. That usually means a FICO® Score of 670 or higher. However, Discover will look at your entire credit report, not just your scores, when considering your application. Other factors, such as your income and your history with Discover, may also influence their decision.

The NHL® Discover it® Credit Card is a solid pick for anyone who wants to show off team pride while still earning competitive cash back rewards. It's also a good option for hockey lovers who want to maximize their purchase rewards. However, the rotating categories, activation requirements, and caps on bonus purchases do make this card a little more work than some alternatives.

Read more: Best Credit Cards

Our credit card methodology

At The Motley Fool Ascent, we rate credit cards on a five-star scale (1 = poor, 5 = best). Our rating criteria includes rewards rates, welcome bonuses, fees, and perks like travel credits and 0% intro APR offers to evaluate our ratings.

We combine these factors with an evaluation of brand reputation and customer satisfaction to ensure you're getting the best card recommendations. Learn more about how The Ascent rates credit cards.