Discover® Cash Back Calendar for 2025
Updated
If you're on a Galaxy Fold, consider unfolding your phone or viewing it in full screen to best optimize your experience.
Discover® is known for offering rotating bonus categories on its most popular credit cards. These categories allow you to earn one of the highest rewards rates on the market, if you stay on top of the Discover cash back calendar.
Eligible Discover credit cards offer 5% back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases across a range of rotating bonus categories every quarter. To earn that rate on each eligible purchase, you just need to have one of those cards and activate the bonus categories quarterly.
Here's the Discover cash back calendar for 2025, as well as how to activate bonus categories and which Discover credit cards offer them.
These are Discover's rotating bonus categories for 2025:
| Quarter | Bonus categories | Approximate starting activation date |
|---|---|---|
| January through March | Restaurants, Home Improvement Stores, and Select Streaming Services | Jan. 1, 2025 |
| April through June | Grocery Stores and Wholesale Clubs | April 1, 2025 |
| July through September | TBA June 1, 2025 | July 1, 2025 |
| October through December | TBA Sept. 1, 2025 | Oct. 1, 2025 |
Discover's calendar always includes a mix of some new categories and old favorites that have been there for years. However, it only reveals one quarter's categories at a time. Gone are the days of revealing a full year's worth of categories at once.
The good news is that every quarter includes categories where cardmembers often have high spending, such as Restaurants, Grocery Stores, Amazon.com, and Target purchases. That makes it easier to hit the $1,500 spending cap each quarter using your everyday spending. If you do, you'll earn $75 in cash back per quarter and $300 per year just from bonus categories.
The starting activation date is the earliest date you can activate a quarter's bonus categories. It's best to activate as soon as possible, because the Discover Cashback Bonus® only applies to bonus category purchases made after you activate. If you forget to activate for the first month of the quarter, you won't receive bonus rewards on eligible purchases.
Here's how to sign up for Discover's 5% Cashback Bonus® program:
If you haven't registered for Discover's online Account Center, you'll need to do that first. Alternatively, you can activate rotating bonus categories over the phone by calling 1-800-DISCOVER (1-800-347-2683).
Since bonus categories must be activated every quarter, you may want to set up email reminders.
The following Discover credit cards earn 5% back in rotating bonus categories:
|
|
| Discover it® Cash Back | Discover it® Student Cash Back |
|
Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
4.50/5
Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale.
5 stars equals Best.
4 stars equals Excellent.
3 stars equals Good.
2 stars equals Fair.
1 star equals Poor.
We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair = Poor
Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
4.50/5
Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale.
5 stars equals Best.
4 stars equals Excellent.
3 stars equals Good.
2 stars equals Fair.
1 star equals Poor.
We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair = Poor |
Rating image, 5.00 out of 5 stars.
5.00/5
Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale.
5 stars equals Best.
4 stars equals Excellent.
3 stars equals Good.
2 stars equals Fair.
1 star equals Poor.
We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair = Poor
Rating image, 5.00 out of 5 stars.
5.00/5
Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale.
5 stars equals Best.
4 stars equals Excellent.
3 stars equals Good.
2 stars equals Fair.
1 star equals Poor.
We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair = Poor |
|
Credit Rating Requirement:
Falling within this credit range does not guarantee approval by the issuer. An application must be submitted to the issuer for a potential approval decision. There are different types of credit scores and creditors use a variety of credit scores to make lending decisions.
Recommended Credit Score required for this offer is: Good/Excellent (670-850)
Good/Excellent (670-850) |
Credit Rating Requirement:
Falling within this credit range does not guarantee approval by the issuer. An application must be submitted to the issuer for a potential approval decision. There are different types of credit scores and creditors use a variety of credit scores to make lending decisions.
Recommended Credit Score required for this offer is: Fair (300-669)
Fair (300-669) |
|
Welcome Offer: Discover will match all the cash back you’ve earned at the end of your first year. |
Welcome Offer: Discover will match all the cash back you’ve earned at the end of your first year. |
|
Rewards Program: Earn 5% cash back on everyday purchases at different places you shop each quarter like grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, and more, up to the quarterly maximum when you activate. Plus, earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases. 1% - 5% Cashback |
Rewards Program: Earn 5% cash back on everyday purchases at different places you shop each quarter like grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, and more, up to the quarterly maximum when you activate. Plus, earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases. 1% - 5% Cashback |
|
Intro APR: Purchases: 0%, 15 months Balance Transfers: 0%, 15 months |
Intro APR: Purchases: 0%, 6 months Balance Transfers: 10.99%, 6 months |
|
Regular APR: 18.24% - 27.24% Variable APR |
Regular APR: 17.24% - 26.24% Variable APR |
|
Annual Fee: $0 |
Annual Fee: $0 |
|
Highlights:
|
Highlights:
|
Show More
Show Less
|
|
You must activate bonus categories each quarter to earn 5% back on up to $1,500 in purchases across those categories with any of these credit cards. Other purchases earn 1% cash back.
In addition, all Discover credit cards offer an Unlimited cashback match welcome bonus. Discover automatically gives you a dollar-for-dollar match on all the cash back you've earned at the end of your first year as a new cardholder (or your Miles, if you get the Discover it® Miles). If you earn $500 in cash back in the first year using your card, Discover will give you another $500 in bonus cash. It's like earning double rewards that entire year.
You can redeem your Discover cash back at any time with no redemption minimums. Another nice thing about Discover credit cards is that they don't charge unnecessary fees. They all have no annual fee and charge no foreign transaction fees.
A 5% cash back rate is extremely competitive. To make the most of it, aim to max out credit card rewards in your Discover card's rotating bonus categories every quarter. That means you should try to get as close to the $1,500 quarterly spending cap as possible with your regular expenses.
Here are a few tips that can help with this in 2025:
If you do that, you could earn up to $300 across those Discover Cashback Bonus® categories in 2025.
The Discover 5% Cashback Bonus® categories for 2025 are:
The categories for remaining quarters have not yet been announced.
Discover matches the cash back you've earned one time after the end of your first year as a cardholder. If you earn $300 in cash back the first year, then Discover will add another $300.
To get the most cash back on your Discover card, use it for all your regular purchases. If your Discover card offers 5% back categories each quarter, make sure to activate them as soon as activation is available.
We're firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. Motley Fool Money does not cover all offers on the market. Motley Fool Money is 100% owned and operated by The Motley Fool. Our knowledgeable team of personal finance editors and analysts are employed by The Motley Fool and held to the same set of publishing standards and editorial integrity while maintaining professional separation from the analysts and editors on other Motley Fool brands. Terms may apply to offers listed on this page.
The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.
