Discover has announced its 5% bonus categories for 2022 and nearly every quarter looks different than in previous years.
Eligible Discover cards, like the popular the Discover it® Cash Back and the Discover it® Student Cash Back, earn 5% cash back when activated (on up to $1,500 in combined quarterly spending) in bonus categories that rotate every quarter. All other spending earns 1% cash back. Cardholders will only earn elevated rewards starting from the date they activate bonus categories online, but you can activate categories beginning two months prior to the start of the quarter.
Bonus categories for 2022’s third quarter — restaurants and PayPal — will remain the same as those featured in 2021. But for the other three quarters, there are notable changes.
Bonus categories for 2022:
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Q1 (January – March): Grocery stores, fitness clubs and gym memberships.
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Q2 (April – June): Gas stations and Target.
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Q3 (July – September): Restaurants and PayPal.
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Q4 (October – December): Amazon.com and digital wallets.
What’s changed?
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In the first quarter of 2022, the issuer will offer fitness clubs and gym memberships instead of CVS and Walgreens like it did the previous year. According to the issuer, this new category will apply to national fitness centers, local gyms, in-person gym memberships as well as in-person and virtual fitness classes. Grocery stores will again be a first-quarter bonus category as they were in 2021.
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Eligible cardholders who enroll will earn 5% back (on up to $1,5000 in combined quarterly spending, 1% thereafter) on gas station purchases in the second quarter (like they did in 2021). However, wholesale clubs and select streaming services have been swapped out with Target. In the last quarter of 2021, cardholders could earn elevated rewards for online purchases only at the retailer. The new Q2 category has been expanded to include in-store, online and in-app purchases.
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Payment service PayPal has been a quarter three bonus category for the past three years, but in 2022 it has been cut in favor of a different variety of digital wallets. Holders of eligible Discover cards will earn the quarterly bonus when they use their cards to make a purchase through Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay or Garmin Pay.
This post was originally published on Nerd Wallet
