Registration is now open to activate your 5x/5% category bonus earnings on your Chase Freedom Flex℠, Chase Freedom® and Discover it® Cash Back cards. For the first quarter of 2025, the bonus categories are:

Chase: purchases made at grocery stores, Norwegian Cruise Line, fitness clubs, gym memberships, and hair, nails & spa services
Discover: purchases made at restaurants, home improvement stores and select streaming services

Chase 5x Bonus Categories

As usual, the bonus earnings rates only apply to the first $1,500 in spending in those categories. If you max out your bonus category spending for the quarter, you’ll earn 7,500 Chase Ultimate Rewards® points.

While 7,500 Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) points are worth $75 in cash, you can get way more value by transferring those points to any of the following cards:

Chase Sapphire Preferred – #1 travel card for beginners
Chase Sapphire Reserve – great for frequent travelers
Chase Ink Business Preferred – highest Chase sign-up bonus for business customers

Once your points have been transferred to one of the above cards, the value of those points are amplified even more! If you transfer the points to Chase’s travel partners like United Airlines, Southwest or Hyatt, you can get so much more value than the original $75. For example, 7,500 Chase UR points could be enough for a one-way flight to lots of great destinations!

For more information on Chase’s flexible points program, check out The Complete Guide to Chase Ultimate Rewards®.

Key Things to Remember

You need to activate the 5x earnings rate by March 14, 2025
The promotion runs from January 1, 2025 to March 31, 2025
The promotion is valid on purchases made at grocery stores, Norwegian Cruise Line, fitness clubs, gym memberships, and hair, nails & spa services
The 5x earnings rate only applies to the first $1,500 in spending across all categories, after which the earnings rate is 1x

Note: As usual, there are some exclusions to be aware of. For grocery stores, Walmart, Target and warehouse clubs will not earn bonus points. In the fitness clubs & gym memberships category, services such as massage therapy, dietary and weight management counseling and personal training are excluded. Finally, for hair, nails & spa services, services purchased at hotels or airports may not qualify. It’s always best to check the Chase Merchant List to confirm everything that’s included and excluded in each category.

How to Activate

Unfortunately Chase doesn’t automatically enroll you into the bonus category earning promotion each quarter. To activate, go to the Chase Activation website and enter your last name, zip code and the last four digits of your credit card.

Alternatively you can log into your Chase account and activate from there. Chase sprinkles links in lots of different places on their website, making it very easy to activate. In just a few minutes, I found a few different places to activate my cards for the upcoming quarter.

Option 1

Option 2

You can also request to receive a reminder email from Chase prior to each quarter. Upon receipt of the email each quarter, you can activate via an easy 1-click activation button.

Discover 5% Bonus Categories

Discover also limits the bonus earnings to the first $1,500 in spending in those categories. However, unlike Chase, there’s no option to earn points instead of cash. So maxing out your bonus category spending for the quarter will earn you $75.

That money can be redeemed as a statement credit, a direct deposit to a checking account or used to purchase 3rd party gift cards. Gift cards are often available with 5% to 20% added value, depending on the merchant.

You can also donate your cash back to charity or to pay for purchases on Amazon.com or with PayPal.

Key Things to Remember

The promotion runs from January 1, 2025 (or the date on which you activate the 5%, whichever is later) through March 31, 2025
The promotion is valid on purchases made at restaurants, home improvement stores and select streaming services
The 5% earnings rate only applies to the first $1,500 in spending across all categories, after which the earnings rate is 1%

Note: Restaurant purchases include those made at merchants classified as full-service restaurants, cafes, cafeterias, fast-food locations, and restaurant delivery services. Home improvement purchases include online and in store purchases at home improvement retail stores, building supply stores (e.g. lumber, paint, and hardware stores), as well as lawn, nursery, and garden supply stores. Finally, examples of select streaming services include popular services like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Audible, DirecTV Stream, FUBO, Max, Netflix, Pandora, Peacock, SiriusXM, Spotify, and YouTube TV. If you’re unsure what may be included or excluded, visit the Discover Cashback Calendar page to confirm.

How to Activate

You won’t earn the 5% cash back bonus unless you activate this feature on your card each quarter. To do so, go to the Discover Online account page and click on “Log In to Activate.”

Discover also automatically emails you about 15 days prior to the start of the next quarter with a reminder. Upon receipt of the email, you can activate via an easy 1-click activation button.

Bottom Line

Both Chase and Discover have some nice sweet spots when it comes to their first quarter bonus categories.

For Chase, the grocery store category will have broad appeal. Unlike the other niche categories, everyone buys groceries! Large families should have little problem maxing out their bonus earning this quarter.

Discover is also coming strong this quarter with restaurants, home improvement stores and streaming services. Remember that restaurants include food delivery, so ordering delivery via apps like Uber Eats, Doordash, etc. will earn the 5% bonus.

If you find it difficult to earn the maximum bonus points or cash back, remember that you can buy gift cards to hundreds of other merchants at grocery stores and home improvement stores. Those gift card purchases count towards the bonus earnings and you can use them at any time in the future.

Happy spending and more importantly, happy 5x earning!