If you have a Discover it card, you can now activate the 5% bonus categories for the first quarter of 2019. Discover actually announced the bonus categories for the whole year, so the categories themselves are not a surprise. For the first quarter of 2019 you will earn 5% cashback at Grocery Stores, from January through March, on up to $1,500 in purchases.

You can now see and activate the offer here. It shouldn’t be a problem maximizing the spending for the fourth quarter for most people in the Grocery Stores category.

Discover – Q1 2019 – Bonus Categories

You will earn 5% Cashback Bonus at stand-alone Grocery Stores from 1/1/19 (or the date on which you activate 5%, whichever is later) through 3/31/19, on up to $1,500 in purchases. Certain digital wallet transactions qualify for 5%, for more information see Discover.com/digitalwallets. Rewards are added to your Cashback Bonus account within two billing periods.

There’s some exclusions:

• Grocery purchases made at convenience stores, gas stations, warehouse clubs, discount stores, and supercenters (or at grocery stores associated with supercenters or discount stores) are not eligible.
• Purchases made at Walmart and Target are not eligible for 5% Cashback Bonus.
• Purchases made using tap-and-pay, mobile or wireless card readers, virtual wallets or similar technology will not be eligible if the technology does not provide sufficient transaction details for rewards qualification.

Guru’s Wrap-Up

The Discover it card only has a $50 signup bonus. It earn 5% on select quarterly categories and 1% on everything else. So it a good card to have long terms. It is especially good during the first year. All your cashback is doubled. After the first 12 billing periods that your new account is open, they match all of the cash back rewards. It’s added to your account in the following one or two billing periods. That effectively earn you 10% on quarterly categories and 2% everywhere else for one year.