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A Guide to the Discover Rewards Program: Cashback Bonus® contents
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A Guide to the Discover Rewards Program: Cashback Bonus®

9 min read
Last Updated: November 1, 2024
Credit card rewards

Table of contents

Key Takeaways

  1. The Discover it® Cash Back Credit Card provides rewards for every purchase.

  2. You can earn 5% cash back on everyday purchases at different places you shop each quarter, up to the quarterly maximum when you activate.

  3. Your Cashback Bonus® never expires.1

Rewards credit cards—especially cash back cards—have become the standard for anyone who knows the value of having a credit card on hand but also wants an incentive to use it. Cash back incentives on credit cards are something you can’t get when you pay with cash and rarely when paying with a debit card.

Cashback Bonus basics

With a Discover it® cashback rewards card, you earn 5% cash back on everyday purchases at different places you shop each quarter like grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, and more, up to the quarterly maximum when you activate. Plus, earn 1% cash back on all other purchases—automatically.

 

That means you will earn $5 cash back for every $100 spent in the quarterly bonus rewards category, up to the quarterly maximum. Use the 5% Cashback Bonus calendar to see the bonus category for your Discover Card each quarter.

 

The earning potential doesn't stop there. You earn unlimited 1% cash back on all your other purchases—automatically.

 

What's more, with Discover Cashback Match we’ll automatically match all the cash back you've earned at the end of your first year.2 There's no minimum spending or maximum rewards. Just a dollar-for-dollar match.

Cashback Bonus details

Our Discover it® cash back credit cards take the guesswork out of earning cashback rewards and gives cardmembers more reasons to enjoy using their Discover card.

First things first: Cashback Bonus® is the name of the cashback rewards program from Discover. It's not a one-time payout or a single, limited bonus. The Discover Cashback Bonus is just what we call the rewards that you earn on every purchase that you make with a cash back Discover Card.

 

If you’re a Discover Cardmember, you’ll be able to manage your account, see your rewards balance, redeem your cash back, activate bonus category offers, and more, by setting up an online account. To set up, grab your Discover Card (for your account details) and click this link to register your account online.

 

It’s worth noting that you don’t earn cash rewards when you use your Discover Card for balance transfers or cash advances.

We believe that the ultimate rewards are rewards that are easy to earn and easy to use. With Discover, you earn cash back you can spend, not points. So, every $1 you earn is worth $1 when you redeem.3

Because it’s cashback, we make it worth the same as cash. There’s one terrific exception: you can redeem and get gift cards with at least 5% added value on every card.

Note: “Redeem” is the word that credit card companies use when talking about spending the rewards that you’ve earned.

It’s simple. Use your Discover cash back rewards credit card to make purchases. Note: You won’t earn credit card rewards on a balance transfer or cash advance.

It doesn’t matter which Discover® cashback card you have, you earn unlimited 1% cash back on all purchases—plus additional cash back depending on the card. Cashback Bonus® works on a Discover it® Cash Back Card, a Discover it® Chrome Gas & Restaurants Card, our student cash back cards, and our secured card.

It’s unlimited because we don’t stop you from earning 1% Cashback Bonus on purchases at any point, no matter how much cash back you’ve racked up already.

Is Cashback Bonus the same thing as Cashback Match?

Cashback Match is a special extra reward for new cardmembers. We’ll automatically match all the cash back you’ve earned at the end of your first year. There is no limit to how much we’ll match.2 Even if you’ve redeemed your Cashback Bonus, you still get a match of what you earned that year.

Every Discover it® card gives you ways that you can earn more than a 1% cashback reward on certain kinds of purchases. You can think of these extra rates of rewards as a bonus category—and these DO come with some limits on how much you can earn.

 

Here are two examples: With the Discover it® Cash Back Credit Card or Student Cash Back Card, you’ll earn 5% cash back on everyday purchases at different places you shop each quarter like grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, and more, up to the quarterly maximum when you activate. Plus, you’ll earn 1% cash back on all your other purchases—automatically. No maximum, no activation needed.

If you are already a Discover Cardmember with one of the cards that includes the 5% Cashback Bonus category, you need to activate to earn each quarter. Once you’ve activated, you’re all set! Just use your eligible Discover Card to spend in that category and you’ll earn 5% cash back on everyday purchases at different places each quarter, up to the quarterly maximum when you activate.

 

Don’t worry if you don’t activate the bonus category—you’ll earn 1% Cashback Bonus® on all purchases.

You can activate (sign up) in several ways.

 

  • Use your Discover mobile app
  • Activate through the online through the Discover portal
  • Call the customer service number on the back of your credit card
  • Respond to the reminder email that we send you to let you know of that quarter’s category.

Have you registered your account for online access? If so, you can log in at any time and check your statement and cash rewards balance to see what you’ve earned (and where you earned it). You can also visit our Cashback Calendar any time to review the current 5% category and remind yourself where you can earn more rewards this quarter.

 

What you should know is that the category code applied to your purchase is issued by the merchant. So if a restaurant uses a charge code for a doctor’s office, there’s no way for Discover to know that it was a restaurant. Luckily, this kind of miscoding isn’t a prevalent issue.

Each quarter you can earn up to $75 cash back in the 5% category.

There’s no limit to the amount of cashback rewards that you can earn on other purchases because you’ll get unlimited 1% rewards on every purchase with your Discover® cash rewards credit card.

With the Discover it® Gas & Restaurants Card, Student Gas & Restaurants Card, or Secured Card, you can earn 2% Cashback Bonus® at gas stations and restaurants on up to $1,000 in combined purchases each quarter, automatically. Plus earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases.4


These extra rewards opportunities, and other special cashback reward offers that you may receive throughout the year, do have limits. We don’t keep it a secret: any offer for additional cash back rewards will clearly state the cap so you know how much you can earn. But remember—even if you max out your earning in a bonus category, you’ll still earn 1% Cashback Bonus® on all purchases.

There are lots of ways that you can redeem (or spend) your Discover cash back credit card rewards. You can browse your options and redeem when you log in to your Discover credit card account online.


If you have more questions or want someone to talk you through the options, you can always call customer service using the number on the back of your card. And don’t forget, you can redeem your Cashback Bonus® in any amount, at any time.1 Here’s a brief overview of the things that you can do with your rewards (and remember, every $1 you earn in cash back is $1 you can redeem,3 unless you redeem for a gift card).


  1. How do you turn your Cashback Bonus into bigger rewards with brand-name partners? If you want to get the most for your cashback rewards, you can get gift cards with at least 5% added value on every card. You can turn your Cashback Bonus into bigger rewards when you redeem for gift cards (or instant eCertificates) from over 100 brand-name Partners. Log in to view a list of our Partners.
  2. $1 Cashback Bonus® equals $1 to redeem at Amazon.com5 checkout and with PayPal.6 Just shop online the way you always do. When it comes time to check out you can select your Discover Card for payment, and if you’ve linked your Cashback Bonus you can use it toward paying for your purchases.
  3. You can use your rewards just like cash. You can deposit it into your bank account or redeem for a statement credit or to pay your Discover bill.
  4. You can make a difference and donate to a charitable cause. (NOTE: doesn’t apply to Miles card members.)

Did you know?

Every Discover credit card is a rewards card. You can enjoy no annual fee on any card.

Learn More about Our No Annual Fee Credit Cards

Individual promotions may include a cap on the additional Cashback Bonus that you can earn. But there’s no limit on the overall amount of Cashback Bonus that you can earn and you always earn Cashback Bonus on every purchase. Plus, your rewards never expire, so you can redeem any amount, any time.1

It's free and easy. If you are already a Discover it® cardmember, log in to your account online or call 1-800-DISCOVER (1-800-347-2683) to activate. Remember, you must activate every quarter.

 

 

Not registered for online account access? Register Now.

No, you can redeem any amount, any time.1 We will credit your account or send you a check with your Cashback Bonus balance if you close your account or if you haven’t used it within 18 months. Redemption may not be available for 24-48 hours if you report your card as lost or stolen.
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