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Discover’s Q4 5% Bonus Categories Are What You Probably Think They Are
In years past, Discover has announced its entire quarterly 5% bonus category calendar before the new year gets underway. Yet, starting with the first quarter of 2023, the card issuer has taken a different approach and, instead, only revealed one quarter at a time, with those unveilings happening one month in advance (leading me to write about them every time). So, with today being September 1st, Discover’s fourth quarter picks are in.
Starting October 1st and running through the end of the year, Discover It cardholders will be able to earn up to 5% back on purchases in two retailer-specific categories: Target and Amazon.com. Thankfully, the Target category covers both online and in-store purchases (unlike some past categories that were Target.com only). With the holiday shopping season just around the corner, these selections of course make a ton of sense.
As a reminder, in order to earn 5% back on these bonus categories, cardholders will need to activate the offer — which is now available on Discover’s site and app. Additionally, the 5% back is capped at a total of $1,500 in combined category spend per quarter, meaning cardholders can score up to $75 back from this offer.
Although this Q4 bonus category was technically a secret until today, if you’re been following the Discover It card for a while, you may have had a pretty good idea of what it might include. To that point, for as long as I’ve had my Discover It card, Amazon has been included in the fourth quarter category.
This fact then made me curious about just how long the retailer had been a feature of the card. From Googling, what I found was that Amazon has been a named Q4 bonus option since at least 2015. Prior to that, it looks as though more generic categories such as “online shopping” or “holiday shopping” that probably qualified Amazon were featured, but I’ll stick with the 2015 figure for now.
Even if I’m not exactly surprised by this latest 5% bonus category, I am pleased with it overall. That said, looking back at the year, I’d have to declare this current quarter (Q3) to be the winner — thanks singlehandedly to the digital wallets category that’s insanely easy to use. Well, at least easy to use when you remember to do so… don’t get me started on that. As for what to expect next year, I’m going to assume Discover takes a similar approach and does a quarter-by-quarter reveal. Speaking as a consumer, I think I’d prefer the old way of doing things. But as a blogger, I have to say: I ain’t mad about it.
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