Credit Card Categories for Bonus Rewards in 2025: Chase, Discover, Citi & More (2025)

Credit cards with rewards often give you extra cash back, points or miles on purchases in designated bonus rewards categories, such as gas, groceries or travel. Some credit cards’ bonus rewards categories always stay the same, while other cards have categories that change every quarter.

Some cards also cap the amount of bonus rewards you can earn each quarter or year. Once you reach that limit, you’ll typically continue earning rewards at the card’s base earning rate, often 1%.

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Current Rotating Credit Card Categories

Three major credit card companies, Chase, Discover and Citibank, have rotating bonus categories on some of their credit cards. In all three cases, you’ll earn 5% cash back in these quarterly categories, up to a limit, but you’ll have to activate them each quarter in order to receive the bonus rewards. Below, you can see the current bonus categories from each major issuer.

Below, you can learn more about each issuer’s credit card bonus categories individually, including what cards they’re available on, activation details, and a list of past categories.

Rotating Chase Credit Card Categories in 2025

*Includes items sold by Amazon, items sold by third-party merchants on Amazon, digital downloads, Amazon Gift Cards, Amazon Fresh orders, Amazon Prime subscriptions and Whole Foods Market purchases (physical stores and online).

**Includes subscriptions to Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, Netflix, Sling, Vudu, Fubo TV, Apple Music, SiriusXM, Pandora, Spotify, YouTube TV, HBO Max, Paramount+, Peacock and Showtime.

Key Things to Know About Chase Credit Card Categories

• The rotating 5% categories are only available on the Chase Freedom Flex® Credit Card and the discontinued original Chase Freedom card.
• You must activate the categories each quarter. The easiest way to do so is by putting in your last name, the last 4 digits of your card number and your ZIP code on the Chase Bonus website.
• As long as you activate before the quarterly deadline, you will earn bonus rewards on all purchases made from the first day of the quarter onward, even ones from before you activated.
• You can earn 5% back on up to $1,500 in purchases across the bonus categories each quarter. After you reach that limit, additional purchases earn 1% back.

Past Chase Credit Card Categories

Rotating Discover Credit Card Categories in 2025

*Includes purchases made at supermarkets, smaller grocery stores, grocery delivery services, meat lockers and bakeries. Purchases made from Target or Walmart are not eligible, and purchases from discount stores and convenience stores may not be eligible.

**Applies to purchases at wholesale clubs. Delivery services, cell phone purchases and travel may not be eligible. Similarly, stand-alone stores and individual merchants located inside physical wholesale club locations, or online, may not be eligible.

Key Things to Know About Discover Credit Card Categories

• The rotating 5% categories are available on the Discover it® Cash Back, the Discover it® Student Cash Back and the NHL® Discover it® (this offer is not currently available on WalletHub and may be out of date).
• You must activate the categories each quarter. The easiest way to do so is by logging in to your Discover account via Discover’s cash back calendar.
• You can activate the bonus categories up until the last day of the quarter. However, you only earn bonus rewards from the day you activate onward, so it’s a good idea to activate on the first day of each quarter to maximize your rewards.
• You can get 5% back on up to $1,500 in purchases across the bonus categories each quarter. After you reach that limit, additional purchases earn 1% back.

Past Discover Credit Card Categories

Rotating Citibank Credit Card Categories in 2025

*Includes attractions, car rentals and hotels booked through the Citi Travel website.

**Applies to purchases at supermarkets, meat/seafood stores, dairy stores, bakeries, and miscellaneous food/convenience stores. Does not apply to general merchandise/discount superstores, wholesale/warehouse clubs, or candy, nut and confectionery stores. Purchases from online supermarkets or grocery delivery services may not qualify.

Key Things to Know About Citibank Credit Card Categories

• The rotating 5% categories are on cards that are no longer open to new applicants: the Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® Visa® Card and the Citi® Dividend® Card for College Students.
• You must activate the categories each quarter. The easiest way to activate is by signing in to your Citibank account on the Citi quarterly offer page.
• You can activate the bonus categories starting a few weeks before the quarter begins up until the last day of the quarter. However, you only start earning rewards within two business days of when you enroll or the first day of the quarter, whichever is later. In other words, if you wait until the last minute, you may not earn many – or any – bonus rewards.
• You can only earn a total of $300 cash back during a calendar year. Unfortunately, that includes both the bonus from these categories and any regular cash back earning on your card.

Past Citibank Credit Card Categories

Non-Rotating Credit Card Categories

Plenty of credit cards offer bonus categories that always stay the same, rather than changing quarterly. These kinds of cards are good for people who spend a lot of money on the same types of purchases month after month, as they can count on always getting bonus rewards.

Some common types of bonus rewards categories include:

• Travel
• Gas
• Groceries
• Restaurants/Dining
• Streaming Services
• Entertainment
• Utility bills
• Home improvement stores
• Drugstores
• Department stores
• Transportation/Rideshare services
• Warehouse clubs/Wholesale stores

Over time, you may add a few different credit cards to your wallet that are each best for different types of purchases. For example, you might have one credit card that offers especially good rewards on groceries and another that gives a boatload of rewards on travel. Using different cards for what they’re best at is WalletHub’s Island Approach to credit card use.

Keep in mind as well that many rewards credit cards feature multiple bonus categories, each of which gives good rates. So you don’t necessarily need a different card for every type of expense. It’s common to find cards that are good for both gas and groceries, for example. You can also consider getting a credit card that gives good rewards at a flat rate on all purchases.

Merchant Category Codes

It’s important to note that credit card companies don’t choose whether a certain purchase you make falls into a particular category for bonus rewards. That’s all automatically determined by Merchant Category Codes (MCCs), which stores set up with the credit card networks.

So, for example, if you buy groceries at a warehouse club like Costco, it probably won’t count toward the “grocery stores” bonus category on a credit card since Costco won’t have the MCC for a grocery store.

How to Choose the Right Rewards Credit Card

1. Check your credit score. This will help you narrow down which cards you’re able to qualify for. You can check your credit score for free here on WalletHub.
2. Take a look at your monthly budget. Or, if you don’t have a budget, make one. Knowing what you spend your money on and how much you spend is key to figuring out what type of credit card best fits your needs.
3. Identify your top 2-3 spending categories. The types of purchases that you spend the most on are naturally the ones you’ll want to get the highest rewards return on.
4. Narrow down your options. Compare rewards cards to find one that you can qualify for with your current credit score that also gives a good amount of rewards in at least one (and preferably two of more) of your biggest spending categories. If those categories are more niche, consider getting a card with a high flat earning rate on all purchases instead.
5. Check for pre-qualification. Many credit card issuers let you see if you’re pre-qualified before you apply. This shows you your approval odds and potential account terms without hurting your credit score, which can help you make your final decision.

Once you decide on a rewards credit card, we recommend applying online for the fastest results. If you get approved, it will likely take another 7 to 10 business days before you have the card in hand and can start earning rewards.

Important Disclosures