It’s now possible to activate/enroll your 5% credit cards for the second quarter of 2019 on Chase Freedom, Discover IT, Citi Dividend, and US Bank Cash+. In this post we’ll provide the activation link for each card and links to track your spend, along with strategies to help increase spend in these categories.
Dates: April 1st – June 30th, 2019. Store purchases can usually be done until the last minute. Online purchases should be given a buffer zone of a day or two.
Contents
Chase Freedom – Grocery and Home Improvement Stores
Activation Link / FAQ / Sample Stores & Exclusions / Our original post
Earn 5% back at grocery stores and home improvement stores during the months of April, May, and June, up to $1,500 maximum.
- Grocery Stores – “Merchants in the Chase Freedom Grocery stores category…includes supermarkets as well as smaller grocery stores. Please note that some merchants that sell grocery items are not included in this category; for example, larger stores that sell a wide variety of goods, such as Target®, Walmart®, discount stores, warehouse clubs, and some smaller merchants such as drugstores and merchants that specialize in only a few grocery items. In addition, please note that purchases made at gas stations operated by merchants who also operate grocery stores are not included in this category.”
- Long list of sample grocery stores can be found here. Includes all the big ones like the Kroger family stores, Shoprite, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Winn Dixie, Safeway, Pathmark, Hy Vee, Giant and many more.
- The Grocery Store category does not include purchases made at Target® or Walmart®.
- Grocery Stores is an easy one to maximize for most people. If you don’t complete the entire $1,500, you can always buy a gift card to local grocery or else stock up on third party gift cards for places like Amazon, eBay, or Airbnb. Many large grocery chains even sell Visa/MC/Amex gift cards too.
- Home Improvement Stores – “Merchants in the home improvement stores category specialize in selling a variety of home improvement supplies, from larger home improvement stores to smaller hardware stores. Please note that some larger merchants that sell a wide variety of general goods which may include home improvement supplies, for example, warehouse clubs, discount stores, or grocery stores, are not included in this category. Also, merchants that specialize in home furnishings, garden and landscaping supplies are not included.”
- Specific examples mentioned by Chase as eligible: Home Depot, Lowe’s, Menards, Ace Hardware, Sherwin Williams; see more examples here.
- Many home improvement stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s sell third party gift cards to places like Amazon and Starbucks. That’s another way to max out this category.
- Specific examples mentioned by Chase as eligible: Home Depot, Lowe’s, Menards, Ace Hardware, Sherwin Williams; see more examples here.
Tip: Click this link (login required) to check how far you are along the $1,500.
Discover – Gas, Uber, Lyft
Activation Link / Our original post
- “Activate to earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Gas Stations (stand-alone), Uber and Lyft from 4/1/19 (or the date on which you activate 5%, whichever is later) through 6/30/19, on up to $1,500 in purchases. Purchases made at Gas Stations affiliated with supermarkets and supercenters may not be eligible. Purchases made through Uber Eats will not qualify. Purchases of Uber and Lyft gift cards may not be eligible…Certain digital wallet transactions qualify for 5%, for more information see Discover.com/digitalwallets. 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. Rewards are added to your Cashback Bonus account within two billing periods.”
- In practice, I believe mobile wallets like Apple, Samsung, and Google Pay do qualify, despite Discover’s caution on this front.
- Check our Payments Workshop for some data points on whether gas stations attached to superstores/groceries count as gas.
- Some people are able to buy gift cards at the convenience store attached to a gas station and get 5x on that. YMMV, do small test first.
- It’s likely that reloading your Uber Cash will work for 5%, though Discover’s terms are ambivalent on that.
- I’m suprised about the UberEATS exclusion, I wonder if that’ll work in practice as well, despite the terms.
Citi Dividend – Drugstores, Fitness
Landing Page | Our Original Post
Earn 5% back at drugstores and fitness stores during the months of April, May, and June. Citi is different than the other cards in that you have a $6,000 annual cap rather than a quarterly cap. So you can get 5% back on up to $6,000 in this quarter, you can save the entire amount for a different quarter, or you can use part up each quarter.
“Drugstores are classified as merchants that sell prescription and proprietary drugs and non-prescription (over-the-counter) medicines. Fitness clubs are classified as merchants that operate sports and recreation facilities requiring membership.”
- Drugstores – a lot of people will max out their entire 2019 year’s $300 cashback limit with this quarter by purchasing gift cards at the drugstores. Stores like CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreen’s, etc, all sell a wide variety of gift cards, and these would trigger the 5% cashback reward.
- Fitness Clubs – Places like Anytime Fitness, Planet Fitness, etc, should all work for this 5% category.
US Bank Cash+ – Select your Categories
Activation link | Our Original Post
U.S. Bank Cash+ offers 5% cash back in two categories, up to $2,000 combined total per quarter. Keep in mind that Car Rentals has been replaced with TV, Internet, and Streaming Services beginning this coming quarter.
Here are the current options:
- TV, Internet, and Streaming Services
- Home utilities
- Select clothing stores
- Cell phone providers
- Electronic Stores
- Gyms/Fitness
- Fast food
- Ground Transportation
- Sporting goods
- Department Stores
- Furniture Stores
- Movie theaters
Tip: Login here, then scroll down and click on the red “View Your Cash+ History” button.
Bank of America Cash Rewards
The Cash Rewards card from Bank of America offers 3% back on one selected category, up to $2,500 per quarter. If you don’t select anything it defaults to gas. Once you selected a category for one quarter, that remains your category in the future unless you change it. Each quarter you can change it if you’d like.
- Gas (default)
- Online Shopping
- Dining
- Travel
- Drug Stores
- Home Improvement/Furnishings
This category is especially lucrative for those who have Preferred Rewards status with Bank of America which can get you 5.25% back on one of these categories at the higher relationship level.
Lots of useful categories here. Important note: the Cash Rewards card also offers 2% back at grocery stores and wholesale clubs up to $2,500 per quarter, and that $2,500 limit combines with the Category Selection limit. After spending $2,500, you’ll earn 1% back on everything.
Other Cards with 5% Category
ABOC – Home Stores, Warehouse, Wholesale Clubs
Registration Link | Our Original Post
- Earn 5x points on qualifying home improvement, home supply, warehouse and wholesale club purchases during April, May, and June, up to $1,500 in purchases.
- Stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s sell third party gift cards to places like Amazon, that can help you max this out.
- Warehouse may include places like Walmart and Target.
- Wholesale clubs is always a popular category as well.
Nusenda FCU – Restaurants, Movies, Home Improvement
Landing Page | Our Original Post
- Earn 5% back at restaurants, movies, and home improvement stores during April, May, and June, up to $1,500 in purchases.
Vantage West [AZ] – Select your Category
Landing Page | Our Original Post
Get 5x points on the category of your choice, up to $1,500 per quarter. Eligible categories:
- Travel
- Restaurants
- Utilities [water, cell, electric, etc.]
- In-Store Wholesale Purchases [Costco, Sam’s Club, etc.]
- Department Stores
- Hardware & Home Improvement Stores
- Charitable Organizations
- Pharmacies & Drug Stores
- Amazon.com
Let us know if we’re missing any others.
platinum-cash-rewards-credit-card by Nusenda Federal credit Union
April till june has 5% cashback in Movies, restaurants, and home improvement up to 1500 spend. If you’ve never heard of the card, it’s really not that great. It has a 90 day bonus offer for 2% cashback…. I see there’s a post….
Added, thank you
any one know if stripes gas stations code as gas for Discover? I found one willing to sell me a $400 visa gift card but their system was down yesterday and only took cash for all transactions. thanks
Idk about the discover it, but my us bank cash+ card gets 5% on uber cash purchases (codes as taxicabs/limousines, same as normal uber rides). This makes the uber eats point moot as well since uber cash not only can, but SHOULD, be used on uber eats since uber cash can be bought at a 5% discount (on top of the 5% cash back).
Anyone know for sure if Chase counts Tractor Supply as ‘home improvement’? I found a couple DPs on Reddit* that it does count that way for Discover; the Chase category merchant list doesn’t mention it one way or the other.
* https://old.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/628weu/psa_activate_your_rotating_5_cards_now_for_q2/dfqawt0/?context=1
and
old.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/66qzqh/how_smallscalenofeenorisk_credit_card_churning/dgkvhh4/
Visa MCC supplier locator has Tractor Supply in the 5999 – General Merchandise code, so it’s probably not going to work. Not fair since the very similar store Rural King gets counted as Home Improvement. If anyone knows otherwise, please do let me know.
Quickest way to find out for sure is to spend $5 there then watch for it to post to your account.
Until recently I was able to easily liquidate Vanilla VGCs purchased from gas stations/drugstores, but about a month ago they stopped working across the board to buy MOs. Always had difficulty using Vanilla VGCs at Walmart, but they seemed to work everywhere else, until recently. This unfortunate development really negates the value of these second quarter bonus categories for me.
As long as I can get 10% discount on my Cash App with Kroger, these credit cards are not going to get many transactions from me for points.
besides 7-11 which does not always take credit for gift cards… which gas stations sell gift cards and take credit cards?
YMMV, but where I live (southeast WI) most Shell stations do, and *no* 7-11 does. The 7-11s around here don’t even sell 7-11 gift cards nor BP gift cards, which seems to be the gas they all sell here.
BBVA ClearPoints Visa has categories for 3 and 2x you choose. I did medical and maintenance but they have very broad categories, should be on this quarterly list
I’m thinking 2-3% is too small of a bonus to add here. Thanks for the suggestion.
ordering groceries from walmart grocery.com for their pickup DOES count towards the grocery category.
“Includes all the big ones like the Kroger family stores, Shoprite, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Winn Dixie, Safeway, Pathmark, Hy Vee, Giant and many more.”
Pathmark was owned by A & P and went bankrupt in late 2015.
And went bankrupt in 2001, and before that in 2000; like most corporate bankruptcies these didn’t involve liquidation. The real point, though, is that they are out of business now. Yeah, I know that *you* know that, Jason, but others might not.