Discover Announces Full 2020 5% Cashback Calendar

Discover has announced all of the rotating 5% cashback categories for 2020. The categories are as follows:

  • Q1 (January–March): Grocery Stores, Walgreens and CVS

  • Q2 (April–June): Gas Stations, Uber, Lyft & Wholesale Clubs

  •  Q3 (July–September): Restaurants and PayPal

  • Q4 (October–December): Amazon.com, Walmart.com and Target.com

Quarter 4 is probably the weakest, but there are usually enough Walmart and Target (and Amazon if you don’t have another good Amazon cards) to make it work. Really impressive calendar in my opinion. I also like how Discover gives us the full calendar in advance unlike Chase.
    William Charles
  • On November 1, 2019, 09:00

View Comments (42)

  • Can someone confirm buying Costco gift cards online will categorize as wholesale clubs? ABOC did not when I put on $1k and only got back 1%. Beware online gift cards purchase don’t count also with Home improvement category as in the case of Home Depot and Lowe’s when used ABOC.

    • I have done it every time the category comes up with Discover and it counts. Best probably to test in the beginning of the quarter if you're worried.

  • I liked it better when Q2 was home improvement but I appreciate the full calendar ahead of time.

  • I'm finding that with multiple BoA CR cards, and PR/PH, getting 5.25% on multiple categories, these 5% cards have become irrelevant.

    • I just dont see the value in parking that much money in a zero interest BofA account or a high fee investment account.

      Getting a net 0.25% cash back isn't worth it.

      • It doesn’t need to be in a high fee investment account. A regular Merrill Edge account will do and you can invest in anything with no additional fees.

  • What’s the general strategy for maxing out PayPal? I usually just pay myself, eat the fee and pocket the difference but there has to be a better method. I usually don’t spend enough organically online to hit anywhere near the max.

    • Previously I had thought this was an issue, but for some reason Paypal stopped charging me fees when I pay via a credit card now

      • To pay a merchant with credit card there is no fee for the purchaser. When sending money to friends and family via credit card it charges a 2.9% fee + $0.30 per transaction.

    • Shop online at places that allow you to pay with Paypal. Rather than check out with your credit card directly go through Paypal.

  • The DoC demographic is traditionally very meh towards wholesale clubs which makes sense if you don't have kids. Seeing as we have two, going on three kids I'm always happy to see wholesale clubs included and I'm sure I'm not alone otherwise they wouldn't continue to offer it as a category.

    Two other thoughts. Use Discover to buy Costco shop cards online for in Warehouse use. Discover doesn't work with the Dosh app so you'll not be able to stack discounts at Sam's.

    EDIT: So much complaining, yikes. I'm just happy the 5x/5% cards still exist seeing as they're essentially loss leaders. First word problems y'all.

    • Grocery stores are awesome to pick up VGCs. Gas and wholesale clubs are useless since I can get gas cheaper in other ways and wholesale clubs don't take Discover.

      • There's only one wholesale club that doesn't take Discover, called Costco. The others work just fine.

      • I welcome the gas ones. It drives the market place for cheaper gas gift cards so others can get 10-20% off.

      • If Costco.com counts for the wholesale clubs category, you can use your Discover card to buy Costco gift cards there.

      • Costco doesn’t take Discover in their warehouses BUT their website does. I buy their gift cards there and then use those when shopping at my local warehouse. Always triggers the cash back bonus without issue. Can only speak about Costco since it’s the only wholesale club I shop at.

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