A few months ago, I had an idea of converting my Discover Miles to a Discover IT card so I could cash out into gift cards. Here’s how everything went down. My Miles 1 year ended in January. I called to product change, but they said the system wouldn’t allow it and I’d have to wait 3 months. Three months later, I called and the system let them. However, it takes until the next billing cycle for the actual PC to happen. I finally got the email that my card was converted, so it’ll take you 16 months to do this (you decide if the extra 4 months is worth your time/effort.)
Screenshot I took after I had called to convert but card hadn’t converted:
The 501,971 miles converted to cashback and I can now cash out via gift cards:
Was it worth the wait? For me, YES. I have the 2.625% BOA TR card, so the opportunity cost was low in those 4 months. Plus, I don’t really MS on an unbonused card these days, so my opportunity cost was $37.50 for every $10K of spend I did on the TR card. The ~10% boost I’ll get on the $5K cashback is worth $500, so for me, the math was worth it. You’ll have to decide if it’s worth it for you.