Discover has released their 5% categories for the Discover it for 2018.
- Q1 (Jan-Mar): Gas Stations & Wholesale Clubs
- Q2 (Apr-Jun): Grocery Stores
- Q3 (Jul-Sep): Restaurants
- Q4 (Oct-December): Amazon & Wholesale Clubs
Remember you’re limited to earning 5% cash back on $1,500 in those categories per quarter. Here is what they have offered in the past:
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Gas Stations & Wholesale Clubs | Grocery Stores | Restaurants | Amazon & Wholesale Clubs |
| 2017 | Gas Stations, Ground Transportation & Wholesale Clubs | Home Improvement & Wholesale Clubs | Restaurants. Some cardholders targeted for Amazon | Amazon and Target |
| 2016 | Gas and Ground Transportation | Restaurants & Movies | Amazon, Home Improvement | Sam’s Club, Amazon, and Department Stores |
| 2015 | Gas Stations & Ground Transportation | Summer Spruce Up? | Home Improvement Stores, Department Stores, and Amazon.com | Amazon, department stores, and clothing stores |
| 2014 | Restaurants and Movies | Home Improvement Stores, Furniture Stores and Bed Bath & Beyond | Gas stations | Department Stores and Online Shopping |
| 2013 | Restaurants and Movies | Home Improvement Stores | Gas stations | Online Shopping |
| 2012 | Gas stations, Movie theaters and Museums | Restaurants and Movies | Gas stations, Movies and Theme parks | Department Stores and Online Shopping |
| 2011 | Travel and Restaurants | Home and Fashion | Gas, Hotels, Movies and Theme Parks | Restaurants and Fashion |
Hat tip to reader Gus
View Comments (34)
Citicards has released their 1st Qtr for 2018: Earn 5% cash back on select purchases with your Citi® Dividend Card.
Sign up to earn 5% cash back on eligible purchases with your Citi® Dividend Card at gas stations and car rental agencies from January 1, 2018 through March 31, 2018.*
Does buying GC in gas station considered as Gas station purchase?.
Yes, it does.
Discover has shown a lot of good will lately. They really respect the costumer. I have no doubt Chase is going to copy Discover in order to compete but I'm going to throw the business to Discover for being so upfront with us.
How restrictive is Discover in their "Grocery Stores" category? E.g. is Walmart included?
In the past, Walmart and Target didn’t count for groceries as they were coded as “discount stores” instead. Usually Discover puts a disclaimer up somewhere when the quarter begins.
Thanks. I saw exclusions on their calendar, but didn't know which specific stores/chains were affected.
Awesome quarters!!
Love getting 5% back at Aldi
Doc, If you want to add historical data to the table:
2011-Q1 Travel and Restaurants
2011-Q2 Home and Fashion
2011-Q3 Gas, Hotels, Movies and Theme Parks
2011-Q4 Restaurants and Fashion
2012-Q1 Gas stations, Movie theaters and Museums
2012-Q2 Restaurants and Movies
2012-Q3 Gas stations, Movies and Theme parks
2012-Q4 Department Stores and Online Shopping
2013-Q1 Restaurants and Movies
2013-Q2 Home Improvement Stores
2013-Q3 Gas stations
2013-Q4 Online Shopping
2014-Q1 Restaurants and Movies
2014-Q2 Home Improvement Stores, Furniture Stores and Bed Bath & Beyond
2014-Q3 Gas stations
2014-Q4 Department Stores and Online Shopping
I wish they would bring back those categories like “Online Shopping”. Was much better than the current store-specific quarters they have now.
I'm sad that a lot of Sam's have removed the variable $500 MCs including the OVs on their shelves and replaced them with the variable $250's which IINM, have higher fees :( I didn't renew my membership.
Sad that "ground transportation" got canned. If you're in a city-dweller without a car you're going to have a hard time using Q1 now that Uber/Lyft and public transportation is off the list.
You should consider US Bank Cash+; ground transportation is one of the 5% categories. I've been using that to buy my $174 monthly train pass since Q2 2017 when they made that category available.
Can someone help me out here? I have never understood why this is appealing. If you max all 4 quarters, it has taken a year to earn a measly $300. I understand with the first year bonus this doubles to $600.
Is that it? Or am I missing something?
Agreed, one isn't very compelling. But I have 3 freedoms, for $225 per quarter (if taken as cash). Add a discover and a citi dividend and I'm up to $375 per quarter long term that I can do in addition to regular signup bonuses/churning. I consider it a baseline, something that I just do anyway, in addition to churning for signup bonuses.
Well it's an annual-fee free card that pays dividends over time. You're right that most cards with a sign up bonus will give you more. But if someone is just starting out and looking for cards they can keep and use for years (as each hard pull will have a very significant impact on their credit) this is pretty good. Someone young and not into MSing who'd otherwise have trouble hitting minimum spending would also like the card.
I do think people exaggerate the benefits of capped 5% cards simply because it feels good to be earning 5% on a lot of transactions, even if in aggregate the cash back is less than a sign up bonus.