June 1, 2025: Today Discover announced its third quarter 2025 cash back categories on the Discover it® and Discover More® cards: gas stations & EV charging, public transit, and utilities.
From July through September, you can get 5% cash back on purchases in these categories with either card, on up to a total of $1,500 spent.
Here’s what you need to know about Discover’s cash back calendar.
Q3 2025 Discover cash back categories: gas stations & EV charging, public transit, and utilities
Here are the details on Discover’s second quarter 2025 cash back categories. Using a Discover it® Cash Back or Discover More® card, you can earn 5% cash back in these categories from April 1, 2025 through June 30, 2025.
- Gas Stations & EV Charging purchases include those made at merchants classified as places that sell automotive gasoline that can be bought at the pump or inside the station and public electric vehicle charging stations. Gas Stations & EV Charging affiliated with supermarkets, supercenters, and wholesale clubs may not be eligible. Certain parking garages where public electric vehicle charging is offered or included may not be eligible.
- Public Transit purchases include local commuter passenger bus, rail, and ferry services. Taxi, rideshare services—including shared bikes and scooters—long-range passenger landrail, and water transportation services are not included.
- Utilities purchases include purchases for residential electricity, natural gas, and water service. Utilities purchases also include purchases made over the phone or online for internet, cable, satellite TV, and mobile and landline phone service. Purchases at retail stores for internet, cable, satellite, and mobile and landline phone service do not qualify. Purchases made through third parties, such as through a landlord, property management company, or homeowners association, may not qualify. Purchases for standalone streaming services, some satellite phone and internet service, vehicle connectivity, accessories, or equipment may not qualify.
Q2 2025 Discover cash back categories: Grocery Stores and Wholesale Clubs
While Discover has announced its third quarter categories, don’t forget that you still have a month to earn up to 5% cash back in the second quarter categories, which are active until June 30th.
Here are the details on Discover’s second quarter 2025 cash back categories. Using a Discover it® Cash Back or Discover More® card, you can earn 5% cash back in these categories from April 1, 2025 through June 30, 2025.
- Grocery stores includes purchases made at traditional supermarkets, plus meat lockers, bakeries, smaller grocery stores, and grocery delivery services. No purchases from Target or Walmart will earn bonus cash back in this category and convenience/discount stores won’t qualify.
- Wholesale clubs means purchases directly at wholesale clubs. This means purchases made directly at places like BJ’s Wholesale Club and Sam’s Club.
Full Discover cash back calendar 2025
For reference, here is the full cash back calendar for 2025 that Discover has announced.
| Quarter | Categories |
|---|---|
| Q1 January – March | Restaurants Home improvement stores Select streaming services |
| Q2 April – June | Grocery stores Wholesale clubs |
| Q3 July – September | Gas stations & EV charging Public transit Utilities |
| Q4 October – December | Not yet announced. |
My take: How do I plan to use the categories?
The most interesting category for me with the Discover it® Cash Back cash back categories this upcoming quarter is utilities.
This isn’t a category we’ve seen before on Discover. And, for that matter, we haven’t seen it on Discover’s competitor, the Chase Freedom Flex, either. I don’t usually pay my utilities with a credit card, but it’s going to be worth it this next month to see if I can use my Discover card.
I hold two Discover It cards, so I don’t think that I’ll be able to maximize the cash back bonus this quarter. I drive a VERY fuel-efficient plug-in hybrid and only end up buying a few tanks of gas per year—mostly when I’m on road trips—and I certainly don’t spend $1,000 a month on utilities. So there will probably some cash back earning “space” that I have left over this next quarter.
How to earn 5% cash back: You must activate your categories
If you have a Discover it® Cash Back, you must activate your Cashback Bonus categories before you’ll receive 5% on the quarter’s categories. There are two ways to activate your categories: Through the website or through an email you receive.
Activating through the website: Simply log into your account at Discover.com and look toward the left-hand side of the page for the link to active.
Activating through email: You may also receive an email with a one-click link to activate your cash back categories.
When do I need to activate?
The best time to activate your Discover cash back categories is as soon as they are announced. You’ll earn 5% back on bonus category purchases made only after you activate them. If you spend in Discover’s bonus categories after the quarter starts, but before you activate a cash back category, you’ll earn only 1% on purchases until you activate. Discover does not retroactively award bonus cash back to purchases you make before you activate.
Getting more rewards: Get up to 10% total with a new Discover card
Discover matches your cash back dollar-for-dollar at the end of your first year of card membership. This means that the card’s 5% categories effectively become 10% categories during your first year. Discover will allow you to have up to two cards—and both of those cards can be cards like the Discover It®, which earn 5% in bonus categories.
Here’s the best welcome bonus currently available on the Discover it® Cash Back:
Welcome bonus: Earn a $100 statement credit after you apply through a referral link and make your first purchase within 3 months of getting approved. Learn how to apply.
About the card: More on the Discover it® Cash Back card
Annual fee: annual_fees
Foreign transaction fee: annual_fees
All information about the Discover it® Cash Back card has been collected independently by cardsandpoints.com.
The Discover it® Cash Back card offers 5% cash back in Discover’s rotating quarterly categories and a dollar-for-dollar cash back match in your first year.
Sign-up bonus
Best sign-up bonus: Earn a $100 statement credit after you apply through a referral link and make your first purchase within 3 months of getting approved.
Learn how to apply.
The $100 bonus is earned as a statement credit and the dollar-for-dollar cash back match is earned as additional cash back rewards.
Rewards
- 5% on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in Discover’s rotating 5% categories each calendar quarter.
- 1% on all other purchases.
Rewards are earned as cash back, but can also be redeemed for gift cards. When you redeem for select gift cards, you’ll get better-than-cash-back value for your rewards.
Benefits
The Discover it® Cash Back card offers no substantive benefits.
Historical Discover cash back calendar: Every category offered since 2020
Knowing previous bonus categories can help you determine how much value you might get from a card with rotating categories in the future. While there is no guarantee that Discover will offer 5% rewards on any particular spending category until it announces its cash back categories, typically spending categories don’t change much year-to-year.
Here is what the Discover it® Cash Back has offered 5% rewards on in the past.
Discover cash back calendar for 2024
- January-March: Drugstores and Restaurants
- April-June: Gas stations, electric vehicle charging stations, home improvement stores, and public transit
- July-September: Grocery stores and Walmart
- October-December: Amazon.com and Target
Discover cash back calendar for 2023
- January-March: Grocery, Drugstores, Streaming
- April-June: Restaurants and Wholesale Clubs
- July-September: Gas and Digital Wallets
- October-December: Target and Amazon.com
Discover cash back calendar for 2022
- January-March: Grocery stores, fitness clubs and gym memberships
- April-June: Gas stations and Target
- July-September: Restaurants and PayPal
- October-December: Amazon.com and digital wallets
Discover cash back calendar for 2021
- January-March: Grocery stores, Walgreens and CVS
- April-June: Gas stations, wholesale clubs and select streaming services
- July-September: Restaurants and PayPal
- October-December: Amazon.com, Walmart.com and Target.com
Discover cash back calendar for 2020
- January-March: Grocery stores, Walgreens and CVS
- April-June: Gas stations, Uber, Lyft and wholesale clubs
- July-September: Restaurants and PayPal
- October-December: Amazon.com, Walmart.com and Target.com
Bottom line: Useful and unique categories in Q3 2025
If you’re a Discover it® Cash Back or Discover More® cardmember, you’ll want to remember to activate your categories and put the Discover card back in your wallet for gas purchases and EV charging purchases from July through September in 2025. Most likely, you’re not getting 5% cash back on these purchases from your other cards.
Utilities and public transportation are interesting categories on a 5% cash back card, and the addition of these categories might give you enough incentive to investigate whether your utility provider will let you use a credit card for payment.
