It’s now possible to activate/enroll all 5% category credit cards for the fourth quarter of 2021, including the Chase Freedom, Chase Freedom Flex, Discover IT, Citi Dividend, US Bank Cash+ and a few others. 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: October 1st – December 31, 2021. 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 – PayPal, Walmart
Activation Link / FAQ / Sample Stores & Exclusions / Our original post
With your Freedom and Freedom Flex cards, earn 5% back this quarter on up to $1,500 in spend at purchases paid via PayPal and on purchases made at Walmart.
- PayPal Purchases – I love the PayPal category since it’s pretty easy to use at thousands of online merchants, tax payments, charities, etc. (Should work in conjunction with PayPal Key as well.) “Please note, Friends and Family or Person-to-Person (P2P) transactions made with your Chase Freedom card on PayPal may be prohibited or not eligible for 5%.”
- Walmart – Works at Walmart stores and Walmart.com and Walmart gas stations. Walmart stores and Walmart.com also sell a wide variety of gift cards as well. (Note: some Walmart stores are not coding properly, more details in the update to this post.)
Tip: Click this link (login required) to check how far you are along the $1,500.
Discover – Amazon, Walmart.com, Target.com
Activation Link / Our original post
With your Discover card, earn 5% back this quarter on up to $1,500 in purchases at Amazon.com, Walmart.com, and Target.com.
- Amazon.com – not very useful for someone who has one of the Amazon 5% credit cards, but could be useful to those that don’t.
- Walmart.com – if you maxed out your Chase Freedom, this is another option.
- Target.com – not too useful for someone who has the Target REDcard which always earns 5% back, but could be useful to those that don’t. (Also useful for when Target runs their gift card sale since Target gift cards don’t get the 5% back REDcard.)
Activate to earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Amazon.com, Walmart.com and Target.com from 10/1/21 (or the date on which you activate 5%, whichever is later) through 12/31/21, on up to $1,500 in purchases. Amazon.com purchases include those made through the Amazon.com checkout, including digital downloads, Amazon.com gift cards, Amazon Fresh orders, Amazon Local Deals, Amazon Prime subscriptions and items sold by third party merchants through Amazon.com’s marketplace. Purchases also include those made in-store at Amazon Go, Amazon Bookstore, and Amazon 4-Star. Walmart.com purchases include only those made at Walmart.com and when shopping through the Walmart app (including Grocery Pick Up and Delivery). Purchases made through affiliates of Walmart.com are not part of this promotion. Target.com purchases include only purchases made online at Target.com or through the Target app. Purchases made through affiliates of Target.com are not part of this promotion, including, but not limited to, targetoptical.com and targetphoto.com.
Citi Dividend – Restaurants, Best Buy
Landing Page | Our Original Post
With your Dividend card, earn 5% back this quarter at Restaurants and Best Buy. Citi is different than the other cards in that you have a $6,000 annual cap rather than a $1,500 quarterly cap. Thus, 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. Some people might have already maxed this out in Q2 2021 on grocery stores and drugstores.
- Restaurants – always a useful category
- Best Buy – based on my prior experience, this should work for Bestbuy.com purchases too.
US Bank Cash+/Elan – Select your Categories
Activation link | Merchant List | Our Original Post
U.S. Bank Cash+ and Elan Max offer 5% cash back in two categories, up to $2,000 combined total per quarter. Keep in mind that Car Rentals was recently replaced with TV, Internet, and Streaming Services.
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 calendar month you can change it if you’d like, but you’re always limited to $2,500 for the entire quarter.
- 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 – Discontinued
Since August 27, 2021, the ABOC Platinum rewards card has moved to a new rewards provider and no longer offers the quarterly 5x categories.
Nusenda FCU – Retail Stores, Online Retail Purchases, Restaurants
Landing Page | Our Original Post
- Earn 5% this quarter on up to $1,500 in purchases at Retail Stores, Online Retail Purchases, Restaurants.
Affinity FCU – Supermarkets, Amazon, Discount Stores
Landing Page | Our Original Post
- Earn 5% this quarter on purchases at Supermarkets, Amazon, and Discount Stores on up to $3,500 in purchases.
The 5x is on top of regular earn for a total of 6x or 7x, depending on the card. Amazon is typically 5% and will be 10% on the category bonus.
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
Anybody have any successful or unsuccessful datapoints using Paypal “paying for an item or service” with Chase?
I’m crossposting this on https://www.doctorofcredit.com/chase-credit-cards-to-consider-cash-like-transactions-as-cash-advance-could-include-bank-funding/ .
Has anyone made a single Freedom purchase of greater than $1500 in one of the rotating categories? I’m wondering if you will get 5X points on the first $1500 and 1X on and any remaining about (like you would expect), OR if for any reason the transaction only awarded 1X.
I have a large purchase that I can make through PayPal very soon and am debating using my freedom or my CFU.
Yes, I did exactly that with a single purchase of about $2500, UR points were 5x for the 1500 and then 1x on the additional 1k.
Does using CHASE freedom for sending money to Friends & Family via PayPal still trigger the 5% bonus? It worked for me last year.
any datapoints here?
The link for the U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa ‘Merchant List’ is no longer working, you need to remove the /index/ at the end.
Updated, thanks
Seems to be working fine for me
I want to use discover card to get 5% at Walmart and sams rhis quarter. I could use freedom card too, but I can maximize it using PPK at other places. Discover card gives 5% only if we pay at walmart.com not in store. I tried walmart pay with discover card in store, and I only got 1%. Surprised because my Bofa card treats walmart pay transactions as online purchase. Interestingly I got 5% cash back for walmart Egift card purchase. A DP for those who want to use discover for walmart purchases but not comfortable in buying physical gift cards online. We can buy egift cards and still get 5%. And use them in store or at sams.
Thank you. I was looking for this DP. Surprised why folks are not prioritizing this over PPK for walmart so that both cards can be maximized like you said.
freedom flex can stack paypal 5X with drug store 3X. Purchased gc @CVS with Paypal checkout worked. Today I also tried using UA portal for pick up orders of amazon gc @Walgreens, PayPal checkout didn’t work on walgreens.com so placed with Paypal key. UA portal has a spend $200 get 500 bonus (ending tomorrow?) plus Walgreens 2% (no mention of excluding gift cards, I did it for the google pay walgreens deal, UA miles and bonus awarded). My order got cancelled by walgreens I think I will do smaller denominators later, I did $300
So that’s around 9%-13% off for amazon gc.
My paypal keys are dead rip
How did you have multiple keys or is “keys” a typo? Did they just stop working suddenly? This is not surprising after they stopped letting us create new keys after we deleted them.
My PPK stopped working because I deleted it. I didn’t have heavy usage on it like you so it’s possible it would still be working had I not deleted it.
Can you provide the Reddit link that you viewed those DPs?
I deleted my PPK few months back to stop few subscriptions charging. Then activated a new key, after that my transactions kept on declining for few days. After few days they started working again. May be its some security feature within ppk. May be try after few days of activating ppk, it may work for you too.
I tried several timed and it never let me create a new Key. I still check but much less often. I’m not optimistic it will ever work again.
Kroger Pay with Paypal Key = 5x on groceries and gift cards + fuel points
Does it code as grocery for first year 5% deal?
Nusenda’s Q4 categories are Retail Stores, Online Retail Purchases, and Restaurants
Just got that card last week! Great credit union
Fixed, thanks
Not expecting anything this holiday season. If I order it might show up for next Christmas.