As we enter a new quarter and a new year, card_name cardholders have the opportunity to earn bonus cash back in new spending categories. For each quarter of 2025, the popular card issuer will update its 5% Bonus Cashback Calendar when you activate, allowing members to earn additional rewards on up to $1,500 in qualified spending.
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What are Discover’s cash-back categories for the first quarter of 2025?
From January through March 2025, card_name cardholders will earn 5% cash back on purchases at restaurants, home improvement stores, and on select streaming services. Bonus categories must be activated, and bonus cash back is limited to $1,500 in purchases per quarter, equaling $75 in rewards.
According to Discover:
Restaurant purchases include those made at merchants classified as full-service restaurants, cafes, cafeterias, fast-food locations, caterers, and restaurant delivery services. Restaurants located inside of or affiliated with another business, such as hotels or retail stores and establishments classified as a bakery, may not qualify.
Home improvement store purchases include online and in-store purchases at home improvement retail stores, building supply stores (e.g. lumber, paint, and hardware stores), as well as lawn, nursery, and garden supply stores. Purchases made through third parties, such as contractors, may not qualify. Purchases from home furnishings, home appliance, and floor covering stores are not included.
Examples of select streaming service purchases include Amazon Music, Amazon Prime Video, AMC+, Apple Music, Apple TV, Audible, DirecTV Stream, FUBO, Google Play Music and Video, Max, iHeartRadio, MLB.TV, Netflix, Pandora, Paramount Plus, Peacock, Showtime, SiriusXM, Sling TV, Spotify, Starz, Vudu, YouTube Music, YouTube Premium, and YouTube TV. Other popular streaming services may be included. If your subscription is bundled with another product or service or billed by a third party (such as a digital platform, a cable or satellite provider, telecommunications, internet provider, or a car manufacturer), the purchase may not be eligible in this category. Add-ons associated with select streaming services may not qualify for this promotion if they are not listed, billed in a bundle, billed separately, or billed through a third party. Listed merchants are in no way sponsoring or affiliated with this program.
Details of the Discover 5% cash back calendar
Discover reveals the 5% cash-back bonus category in the month before the start of the next quarter. That means we won’t know the full 2025 calendar until later in 2025, however, we can look back at the categories from previous years to get an idea of what they might be.
January-March
April-June
July-September
October-December
2025
Restaurants, home improvement stores, and select streaming services
TBD
TBD
TBD
2024
U.S. restaurants and drug stores
Gas stations and EVC stations, home improvement stores, and public transit
Walmart and grocery stores
Amazon.com and Target
2023
Grocery stores, drug stores and select streaming services
Restaurants and wholesale clubs
Gas stations and digital wallets
Amazon.com and Target
2022
Grocery stores and fitness club and gym memberships
Gas stations and Target
Restaurants and PayPal
Amazon.com and digital wallets
2021
Grocery stores, Walgreens, CVS
Gas stations, wholesale clubs and select streaming services
Restaurants and PayPal
Amazon.com, Walmart.com and Target.com
2020
Grocery stores, Walgreens, CVS
Gas stations, Uber, Lyft and wholesale clubs
Restaurants and PayPal
Amazon.com, Walmart.com and Target.com
2019
Grocery stores
Gas stations, Uber and Lyft
Restaurants
Amazon.com
Each quarter, cardholders can receive 5% cash back on purchases in the bonus categories. The bonus is capped at $1,500 in spending which translates into $75 cash back. After that, all additional purchases earn an unlimited 1% cash back.
How to activate Discover’s cash-back categories
Bonus cash back isn’t automatically awarded. You’ll need to activate each quarter’s category to begin earning 5% cash back.
Activation is simple and can be done with the click of a button. Discover typically sends cardholders an email reminding them to activate the cash back category for the next quarter. These emails generally contain a link that can be clicked to activate the offer.
If you don’t get an email or lose it, you can also activate the bonus category online. You should see the option to activate on the main page for your credit card account. You can also go to the 5% Cashback Calendar within your account to activate the offer or call Discover’s customer service line.
You should be able to activate the category as soon as it is announced. Those announcements occur at the start of the month before a new quarter begins.
➤ SEE MORE:Chase Freedom® quarterly rewards categories
How to redeem Discover credit card rewards
Redeeming Discover cash back is almost as easy as activating the cash back categories. You have four options:
- Cash: Redeem your cash back for a statement credit or deposit it into a bank account.
- Pay with rewards: Cash back can be used to make purchases at Amazon.com or through PayPal.
- Gift cards: You’ll get 5-20% added value when you redeem your cash back for gift cards. There are nearly 100 options including Walmart, Target, Land’s End and Grubhub.
- Charity: You can donate your cash back to one of eight charities including the American Red Cross, Junior Achievement USA and the World Wildlife Fund.
You can choose from these options within the redemption page of your online Discover account.
Other cards with rotating bonus categories
Discover isn’t the only card with quarterly bonus categories. CardName and Chase Freedom® cardholders also need to activate their quarterly bonus category to begin earning extra cash back.
For the first quarter of 2025, Chase is offering 5% cash back on up to $1,500 worth of purchases at grocery stores (excluding Walmart and Target); Norwegian Cruise Line; fitness clubs and gym memberships; and hair, nails, and spa services.
Other cards let you select your own bonus category and change it quarterly or monthly. These include the CardName and the card_name. If you haven’t reviewed your selection recently, now is a good time to reevaluate your choice.
Ready to ramp up your rewards? Check out the best credit cards to get right now.
