December 4 2024: Discover has announced its cash back calendar 5% bonus categories for the first quarter of 2025: Restaurants, home improvement stores and select streaming services.
Current cardmembers can activate these categories today.
But you still have another month left to take advantage of Discover’s 5% cash back categories in December 2024: Amazon.com and Target purchases. Thanks to these categories, Discover It is among the best cards for holiday shopping this year.
Here’s what you need to know about Discover’s cash back calendar.
In this article…
Full Discover cash back calendar 2025
| Q1: January – March | Q2: April – June | Q3: July – September | Q4: October – December | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Restaurants, home improvement stores, and select streaming services | Not yet announced | Not yet announced | Not yet announced |
| 2024 | Drugstores and Restaurants | Gas stations, electric vehicle charging stations, home improvement stores, and public transit | Grocery stores and Walmart | Amazon.com and Target |
Q1 2025 Discover cash back categories: Restaurants, home improvement, and streaming
Here are the cash back bonus categories for the first quarter (January – March) of 2025:
- Restaurants
- Home improvement stores
- Select streaming services
Additional details from Discover
Restaurant purchases are pretty simple, but most of the time card issuers exclude things like fast food and delivery services from their restaurant category. Discover includes these items in their category bonuses:
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.
Discover cash back calendar terms
If you’re planning on doing a home improvement project. Keep in mind that many home improvement stores also sell gift cards which mean that you can “expand” this category. Pick up a gift card for Walmart at your favorite home improvement store and you’ve expanded the 5% savings to include Walmart.
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.
Discover cash back calendar terms
Discover provides a list of streaming services, which includes (from my view) all of the major streaming services. Discover also mentions that other streaming services may qualify.
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.
Discover cash back calendar terms
How do we plan to use the categories?
Here’s how we plan to use this quarter’s Discover categories.
This quarter’s categories are kind of boring, at least compared to Target and Amazon, which were the 5% bonus categories in Q4 2024.
But how will I use my Discover cash back categories in Q1 2025?
Probably not on dining or streaming. I’m not a big dining out person—and when I do dine out, I’m usually spending statement credits available on my other cards. Also, the only streaming subscription service I really purchase is Disney+, and I charge that to my Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express to get a $7 monthly credit,
I’ll likely get the most value from the home improvement category—I’ll probably use the card for a few buyers club purchases—but I doubt I’ll be maximizing the $1,500 in spending across both of my cards this upcoming quarter.
Q4 2024 Discover cash back categories: Amazon.com and Target
The Discover 5% cash back categories in Q4 2024 are Amazon.com and Target. This means that the Discover It® Cash Back Card becomes one of the best cards to use at Amazon and one of the best cards to use at Target in Q4 2024.
Amazon.com. Discover includes purchases made through Amazon.com’s checkout in its 5% category. This also includes Amazon go and Amazon Fresh. Whole Foods purchases are not included in this quarter’s promotion.
Target purchases include most purchases at Target and Target.com, though purchases from standalone stores within Target won’t earn 5%.
Discover’s terms: What counts and what’s excluded
Here’s the exact terms that Discover has published regarding what counts and what doesn’t count in this quarter’s 5% bonus categories.
Amazon.com purchases include those made through the Amazon.com checkout, like digital downloads, Amazon Fresh orders, Amazon Local Deals, Amazon Prime subscriptions, and items sold by third party merchants through Amazon.com’s marketplace. This also includes purchases in-store at Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh. Purchases made online and in-store with Whole Foods Market are not included in the promotion.
Discover Q4 2024 5% category terms
Target purchases include those made in-store at Target, Target.com, or through the Target app. Purchases from individual merchants and stand-alone stores within physical Target locations may not be eligible for this promotion. Purchases made online or through the Target app from Target affiliates, individual merchants, or stand-alone stores may not be eligible for this promotion, including, but not limited to, targetoptical.com and targetphoto.com.
Discover Q4 2024 5% category terms
How to earn 5% cash back: You must activate your categories
If you have a Discover IT cash back card, you must activate your Cashback Bonus categories before you’ll receive 5% on the quarter’s categories. There are two ways to activate your categories: Through the website or through an email you receive.
Activating through the website: Simply log into your account at Discover.com and look toward the left-hand side of the page for the link to active.
Activating through email: You may also receive an email with a one-click link to activate your cash back categories.
When do I need to activate?
The best time to activate your Discover cash back categories is as soon as they are announced. You’ll earn 5% back on bonus category purchases made only after you activate them. If you spend in Discover’s bonus categories after the quarter starts, but before you activate a cash back category, you’ll earn only 1% on purchases until you activate. Discover does not retroactively award bonus cash back to purchases you make before you activate.
Getting more rewards: Get up to 10% total with a new Discover card
Discover matches your cash back dollar-for-dollar at the end of your first year of card membership. This means that the card’s 5% categories effectively become 10% categories during your first year. Discover will allow you to have up to two cards—and both of those cards can be cards like the Discover It®, which earn 5% in bonus categories.
Discover it® Cash Back welcome offer: $100 statement credit + double cash back in your first year. (Annual fee: $0)
Get a $100 statement credit when you’re approved and use the card within the first three months. Plus, get all of your cash back doubled in your first year of having the card. Get this welcome bonus.
The $100 statement credit after approval is an easy welcome bonus, even if it is smaller than other easy welcome bonuses. More interesting is the doubled cash back in the first year of having the card which turns the cards 5% rotating categories into 10% rotating categories.
5% cash back in rotating categories. (More in our card review.)
This is a referral link. All information about Discover it® Cash Back has been collected independently by cardsandpoints.com.
About the card: More on the Discover it® Cash Back card
Annual fee: annual_fees
Foreign transaction fee: foreign_transaction_fee
The Discover it® Cash Back card offers 5% cash back in Discover’s rotating quarterly categories and a dollar-for-dollar cash back match in your first year.
Sign-up bonus
Earn a $100 statement credit after you apply through a referral link and make your first purchase within 3 months of getting approved. Referral link.
Rewards
- 5% on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in Discover’s rotating 5% categories each calendar quarter.
- 1% on all other purchases.
Rewards are earned as cash back, but can also be redeemed for gift cards. When you redeem for select gift cards, you’ll get better-than-cash-back value for your rewards.
Benefits
The Discover it® Cash Back card offers no substantive benefits.
All information about the Discover it® Cash Back card has been collected independently by cardsandpoints.com.
Historical Discover cash back calendar: Every category offered since 2020
Knowing previous bonus categories can help you determine how much value you might get from a card with rotating categories in the future. While there is no guarantee that Discover will offer 5% rewards on any particular spending category until it announces its cash back categories, typically spending categories don’t change much year-to-year.
Here is what the Discover it Cash Back Credit Card has offered 5% rewards on in the past.
Discover cash back calendar for 2024
- January-March: Drugstores and Restaurants
- April-June: Gas stations, electric vehicle charging stations, home improvement stores, and public transit
- July-September: Grocery stores and Walmart
- October-December: Amazon.com and Target
Discover cash back calendar for 2023
- January-March: Grocery, Drugstores, Streaming
- April-June: Restaurants and Wholesale Clubs
- July-September: Gas and Digital Wallets
- October-December: Target and Amazon.com
Discover cash back calendar for 2022
- January-March: Grocery stores, fitness clubs and gym memberships
- April-June: Gas stations and Target
- July-September: Restaurants and PayPal
- October-December: Amazon.com and digital wallets
Discover cash back calendar for 2021
- January-March: Grocery stores, Walgreens and CVS
- April-June: Gas stations, wholesale clubs and select streaming services
- July-September: Restaurants and PayPal
- October-December: Amazon.com, Walmart.com and Target.com
Discover cash back calendar for 2020
- January-March: Grocery stores, Walgreens and CVS
- April-June: Gas stations, Uber, Lyft and wholesale clubs
- July-September: Restaurants and PayPal
- October-December: Amazon.com, Walmart.com and Target.com
