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Costco Gift Cards Trigger Discover It Credit Card Q2 5% Cash Back Bonus Categories

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  We are now in Q2 so you can start earning cash back at new bonus categories with your Discover It Credit Card.  For Q2 (April 1 – June 30), you can earn 5% cash back at Gas Stations, Uber, Lyft, and at Wholesale Clubs.  I have 2 Discover It cards (since I converted my Discover It Miles to another Discover It), so I can earn 2 x $1,500 = $3,000 x 5% = $150 cash back total if I max out both cards this quarter.  Laura and I are members of Costco, so we decided to buy a $500 Costco gift card through the Costco website (only Visa credit cards are accepted in store).  We will use the gift card at Costco and at Costco gas stations for the next few weeks.  I am happy to report that the gift card purchase earned 5% cash back.

a screenshot of a website

Here are the complete terms for the Discover It Q2 bonus categories:

2. For Discover it® and Discover® More® cardmembers only: Activate to earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Gas Stations (stand-alone), Uber, Lyft and Wholesale Clubs from 4/1/20 (or the date on which you activate 5%, whichever is later) through 6/30/20, on up to $1,500 in purchases. Purchases made at Gas Stations include only merchants in the category that sell automotive gasoline that can be paid for either at the pump or inside the station. Gas Stations affiliated with supermarkets and supercenters may not be eligible. Uber and Lyft purchases include only transactions made for Uber and Lyft Rides in the United States. Uber, the Uber logo is a registered trademark of Uber Technologies, Inc. Lyft, the Lyft logo is a registered trademark of Lyft, Inc. Check with your Wholesale Clubs to make sure your Discover card is accepted. Purchases of affiliated Wholesale Club services, such as travel and cell phone purchases, may not be eligible in this category. Individual merchants and stand-alone stores within physical Wholesale club locations, or online, may not be eligible in this category. Listed merchants are in no way sponsoring or affiliated with this program. Certain digital wallet transactions qualify for 5%, for more information see Discover.com/digitalwallets. Purchases made through third-party payment accounts, 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. 5% Cashback Categories: In accordance with standard industry practices, merchants are assigned a merchant category code (MCC) typically based on their line of business, or the type of products and/or services they primarily sell or provide. Discover Card does not assign MCCs to merchants. Even if you make purchases at a merchant of items that appear to fit in a rewards category, the merchant may not have an assigned MCC in that rewards category. Only purchases made from merchants located in the United States are eligible for 5% Cashback Bonus. Rewards are added to your Cashback Bonus account within two billing periods. See Cashback Bonus Program Terms and Conditions for more information about your rewards.

Costco gift cards (called Costco Shop Card) are only available to Costco members and can be bought in various denominations from $25 to $2,000 with a purchase limit of $10,000 per day.

a screenshot of a website

I purchased a $500 Costco gift card online a few days ago and my Discover It credit card statement just closed.  I can tell by looking at the statement that the $500 gift card purchase earned $25.00 in rewards (5% cash back).

a screenshot of a receipt

There is still a long time to go in Q2, so I am not in a rush to buy another $2,500 in Costco gift cards.  I will buy them every few weeks when we start depleting the gift card balance.  If I have not maxed out the $3,000 spending at bonus categories by the end of Q2, I will buy a few more Costco gift cards and spend them over the next several months.  If you have any questions about buying Costco gift cards online, please leave a comment below.  Have a great day everyone.


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17 thoughts on “Costco Gift Cards Trigger Discover It Credit Card Q2 5% Cash Back Bonus Categories

    1. Grant Post author

      I believe wholesale should cover Costco, Sam’s Club, and BJ’s. There might be other wholesale clubs that count too.

      Reply
    1. Grant Post author

      Hi Bob, I have not tried to buy a Sam’s Club GC with Discover (I’m not a Sam’s Club member). In theory, it should work to earn 5% cash back. Test it out and let me know if it works.

      Reply
  1. De Andre Hinkson

    Grant, what if you were to buy a Visa Gift Card at a Shell Gas Station, Exxon Mobil, or 7Eleven? Have you tried to see if it qualifies as “gasoline” on the statement?

    Reply
    1. Grant Post author

      I’m not sure yet, I placed a Costco GC order on 4/1 but the charge is still pending and my statement just closed yesterday. I assume it still works but won’t know for sure until my next statement closes in early May.

      Reply
  2. Alex

    Has anyone tried it with an electronic Costco GC? (Email delivery Costco shop card) – does it also trigger the 5% cash back?

    Reply

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