Credit Card News
Discover Announces 5% Bonus Categories for 4th Quarter of 2023
This morning, Discover revealed the spending categories that cardholders will be able to earn up to 5% back on starting October 1st, 2023.
About the Q4 5% bonus categories:
During the fourth quarter of 2023 — which runs from October 1st through December 31st — Discover It cardholders can earn up to 5% back on purchases at Target as well as on Amazon.com. To be clear, this includes online and in-store purchases for Target in addition to Amazon.com purchases.
While Discover often changes its quarterly bonus categories, Amazon’s fourth-quarter inclusion has become a staple of the card. In fact, looking at past calendars, the online retailer has been featured by name since at least 2015 (calendars before that included more generic offerings such as “online shopping” that would have covered Amazon as well). Similarly, Target has also regularly been included in Discover’s bonus categories, most recently being a part of the Q2 2022 line-up where it appeared alongside “gas stations.” Incidentally, this exact category combo of Target and Amazon.com was previously utilized in Q4 2017.
Discover It cardholders can now activate this Q4 offering on the Discover site or app. Once activated, starting October 1st, cardmembers will earn 5% back on qualifying purchases from these retailers. However, the 5% bonus is capped at a total of $1,500 in combined bonus category spending. This means that cardholders can earn up to $75 in cashback from this bonus category during the quarter.
For context:
This latest category reveal finally completes Discover’s 2023 calendar. Previously, the issuer announced the majority of its bonus categories before the new year began but, this time around, it elected to uncover them one month prior to each new quarter’s beginning. Currently, until the end of the third quarter, It cardholders can continue to earn up to 5% back on gas station and EV charger purchases as well as on purchases made using digital wallets such as Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Google Pay.
What they’re saying:
Announcing next quarter’s categories, Discover’s VP of Rewards and Product Strategy Geeta Chandan said, ” The 5% Cashback Bonus categories this quarter offer some great ways to earn rewards on holiday shopping both in-store and online. Whether you prefer the experience of browsing the aisles in store or the convenience of shopping online, these 5% Cashback Bonus categories hold something for everyone. We continue to focus on giving cardmembers more rewards in the places they already shop and believe 5% cash back at Amazon.com and Target is great for their holiday shopping needs.”
My thoughts:
As I mentioned, with Amazon being a part of every Q4 bonus category in the years that I’ve had my Discover It card, there was little doubt that it would appear again this year. On top of that, the inclusion of Target satisfies me as a cardholder — and I’m thankful that it’s not exclusive to Target.com orders as it has been in some previous years. Overall, despite the predictability of next quarter’s categories, I still give Discover a thumbs up on their selections. Looking ahead, while I suspect that they’ll continue this quarterly reveal strategy, maybe just maybe they’ll go back to announcing the full calendar at once.
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