Discover Makes a Big Announcement for Its 2023 Cash Back Calendar

The first quarter bonus categories are here, but categories won't be rolled out all at once anymore.

Discover has announced its rotating bonus categories for the second quarter of 2023. In a change to its usual release schedule, categories for the rest of the year aren't available yet. Instead, Discover is shifting to a quarterly release schedule, with each category revealed a month in advance. Here's how it will work and the bonus categories for next quarter.

Discover's 5% cash back categories for Q2 2023

From April through June 2023, Discover's 5% cash back bonus categories aere:

• Restaurants
• Wholesale clubs

Discover's 5% cash back categories for Q1 2023

From January through March 2023, Discover's 5% cash back bonus categories were:

• Grocery stores
• Drug stores
• Select streaming services

If you have any Discover credit cards with rotating bonus categories, your card will earn 5% back on up to $1,500 in purchases when you activate. You're able to activate up to a month in advance online or by phone.

Note that you only start earning the bonus rate after you activate your bonus categories. It doesn't apply retroactively to previous purchases. For example, if you activate next quarter's bonus categories on Jan. 15, you won't earn 5% on grocery store purchases made between Jan. 1 and Jan. 14. To avoid missing out on any bonus cash back, activate the bonus categories in advance.

A new release schedule for the Discover cash back calendar

Discover used to reveal the entire cash back calendar for the upcoming year on Nov. 1. For 2023, Discover will announce bonus categories on its eligible credit cards quarter by quarter. Here's the release schedule for next year's categories:

• January through March: Dec. 1, 2022
• April through June: March 1, 2023
• July through September: June 1, 2023
• October through December: Sept. 1, 2023

Discover cardholders may be disappointed by this news. One of the nice things about Discover was that it published its entire cash back calendar upfront. You knew what to expect and could plan how to maximize your rewards.

While that is dismaying, there are ways this could be a positive change. By releasing categories one quarter at a time, Discover has more flexibility to choose bonus categories that help cardholders the most based on current trends.

For example, imagine that the cost of living starts rising rapidly in May. Discover could decide to make Walmart and Target the bonus categories for July through September, helping people earn more cash back on their everyday expenses at a time when they need it most. It wouldn't be able to do that if it had already revealed that Walmart and Target were the bonus categories for the fourth quarter.

This move by Discover is a big change for those who were used to the card issuer's usual cash back calendar release. Considering Discover is one of the most customer-centric credit card companies, it deserves the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully, this change will have a positive impact and lead to even better bonus categories in 2023 -- and beyond.