Discover 5% Calendar Released For Second Quarter 2024

• 2024 Q1: January to March. Restaurants and drug stores
• 2024 Q2: April to June. Gas stations and electric vehicle charging stations, home improvement stores and public transit

For Q1, purchases that qualify for the restaurant category include things like full-service restaurants, cafes, cafeterias, fast-food locations and restaurant delivery services. Qualifying drug store purchases include those made at stand-alone drug stores, pharmacies, online pharmacies and some pharmacies located inside of retail stores.

For your springtime rewards, gas and charging stations include merchants selling gas at the pump or inside, as well as public electric vehicle charging stations. Gas and charging stations affiliated with supermarkets, wholesale clubs and certain parking garages may not be eligible.

Qualifying home improvement includes building supply stores and garden supply stores—not furniture, home appliance, plumbing, heating or flooring stores—for both in-store and online purchases. Keep in mind that purchases made through third-party contractors also will not count for the 5%. Public transportation services that count towards bonus earning include local commuter passenger buses, rails and ferry services. Exceptions to the public transit category are taxis, ridesharing, long-range passenger rail, land and water transportation.

Keep an eye out for updates each quarter. Most likely, at least one category each quarter will be useful to you.

The Discover it® Cash Back offers rotating quarterly bonus categories with a capped earning limit and activation requirement. This means cardholders must adhere to a number of strict requirements in order to earn a 5% cash-back reward on specific spending.

• Cardholders earning rewards with the Discover it® Cash Back must activate the bonus category every three months by logging into Discover’s website or onto its mobile app.
• The earning cap means only the first $1,500 of spending in the bonus categories during the quarter after the activation is eligible to receive the 5% reward.
• Every quarter, on the first of January, April, July and October, the bonus categories change and the spending cap resets.

There’s one small (but crucial) step in order to secure a full 5% cash back in the Discover it® Cash Back’s bonus categories. In order to earn 5% instead of the standard 1% offered on all purchases, you’ll need to activate the rotating bonus categories every quarter.

Doing so is easy: Log in to your Discover account and then click “Activate now” near the published categories. You can also activate through the Discover app or by calling 1-800-DISCOVER.

It’s best to activate your cash-back earnings while it’s fresh in your mind. That’s because you only earn the increased rate if you’ve manually registered for the promotion. If you forget to activate the bonus, you’ll only earn 1% on that purchase.

Once you’ve activated the bonus categories, you can shop knowing you’re earning a pumped-up rewards rate. In some quarters, the rotating categories will line up perfectly with your spending habits and it will be easy for you to maximize the full $1,500 spending limit—or $75 in rewards—allowable per quarter.

Other quarters may not be as straightforward. Occasionally, the bonus categories might not match your normal routine. In those cases, try to think outside the box to find creative ways to max out your bonus. Don’t spend money you wouldn’t otherwise, but perhaps buying what you need from a different store can help your purchases fall within a different category.

For example, if the bonus categories include gas stations, you could buy other merchandise you do need within the store. Many gas stations sell similar merchandise to convenience stores as well as gift cards to restaurants and retail stores. You could buy those gift cards, earn bonus cash back and then redeem those gift cards at businesses you visit anyway.

Another way to maximize your rewards is to strategically time when you make your purchases. For example, during a period where groceries are bonused, you might want to stock up on pantry items with long shelf lives in order to maximize your rewards potential. On the flip side, you may also want to strategically delay purchases. Can the household goods or toys you need from a superstore wait until they earn bonus cash back?

Maximizing bonus categories, especially through more creative methods, requires you to be responsible with the purchases you make. This approach only makes sense if you can pay your credit card bill in full and on time. Otherwise, the fees and interest payments on your credit card will be far more expensive than the cash back you earn.

Unfortunately, only the first $1,500 in total bonus category spending each quarter will qualify to earn bonus rewards. After that, you’ll only earn 1% on your purchases, regardless of the category. If you max out the full allowance, you’ll want to take a look at the other cards in your wallet to see if there are any that will earn more than the ongoing 1% rate. Then, pull the Discover it® Cash Back back out when the new quarter’s categories—and spending limit—reset.

If the 5% cash back strategy appeals to you and you want to take it even farther, you can double up with the Chase Freedom Flex℠*. It’s structured similarly with no annual fee and earns 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in categories that rotate quarterly (requires activation), 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3% cash back on dining and drugstores and 1% cash back on all other purchases. You can also consider cards that offer bonus rewards on fixed categories all year: Matching the right categories with the types of purchases you make may pay off handsomely.

It’s worth keeping track of Discover’s 5% bonus categories. The rotating list is full of popular merchants for everyday spending like:

• Grocery stores
• Drugstores
• Select streaming services
• Restaurants
• Wholesale clubs
• Gas stations
• Digital wallet purchases

All cash back helps your budget and 5% cash back is usually as high as it gets. When the categories line up smoothly with the types of purchases you make, it’s an easy way to earn rewards. Someone who hits the $1,500 spending cap each quarter would earn $300 per year just from the 5% quarterly rotating categories. That’s fabulous for a card with no annual fee.

As with all credit cards, the trick is always to be responsible with your cards and only juggle as much as you can keep track of. There’s a fine line between maximizing rewards and getting in over your head, but a card like the Discover it® Cash Back is a logical place to start.