It’s now possible to activate/enroll your 5% credit cards for the fourth quarter of 2017 on Chase Freedom, Discover IT, Citi Dividend, and US Bank Cash+. In this post we’ll provide the activation link for each card and link to track your spend, along with strategies to help increase spend on these categories.
Dates: October 1, 2017 – December 31, 2017. Store purchases can be done until the last minute. Online purchases should be given a buffer zone of a day or two.
Contents
Chase Freedom – Walmart & Department Stores
Activation Link / Our original post
Walmart and department stores are both places a lot of us will be shopping during the busy holiday shopping season. They’re also places which don’t typically have bonus earnings on credit cards.
- Walmart includes physical stores, walmart.com, and Walmart gas, but does not include Sam’s Club. You can easily buy a Walmart gift card at Walmart or walmart.com and use that at Sam’s Club.
- Department Stores includes places like Sears, Macy’s, Kohl’s, Nordstrom, Nordstrom Rack, and Neiman Marcus. Full list can be found here. It does not include discount stores or super-centers such as Target, Costco, BJ’s, or Sam’s Club.
If you can’t spend $1,500 organically, consider buying Walmart gift cards for future use at Walmart or Sam’s Club, or buy third-party gift cards at Walmart or walmart.com to lock in the deal almost anywhere. You can also buy $200 Visa gift cards at walmart.com, and it might even be possible to buy $500 Visa/MC gift cards at Walmart stores with a credit card. Also check out Sears stores for a variety of of third-party gift cards.
Tip: Click this link to check how far you are along the $1,500.
Discover – Amazon and Target
Activation Link / Our original post
Amazon and Target are both popular retailers many of us would shop at regardless. If you don’t make $1,500 in Amazon and Target purchases organically, consider buying Amazon/Target gift cards – or third-party gift cards sold by Amazon and by Target – to lock in the 5% rate.
- 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.
- Target purchases include any purchase made online or in-store at Target and SuperTarget. Individual merchants and stand-alone stores within physical Target locations may not be eligible in this category. Purchases made using third-party payment accounts, tap-and-pay, mobile or wireless card readers, virtual wallets or similar technology may not be eligible.
- Amazon Pay is also working to trigger the 5%. You can see a list of merchants who accept Amazon Pay here.
Bear in mind, it’s possible to earn 5% back on these merchants year-round: Target with their REDcard and Amazon with one of their credit cards. For that reason, some won’t find these valuable. However, Target could still be useful for buying Target gift cards since these don’t earn 5% back with REDcard.
Of particular note, Target has been running a 10% off sale on their gift cards each holiday season for the past two years. The Discover 5% will be an extra bonus there if Target runs that deal again this year. You can also buy $400 Visa gift cards at Target stores which come with a $6 fee if you find that worthwhile; these cards don’t earn 5% with REDcard but will earn 5% with Discover.
New Discover cardholders will get the 5% cashback doubled at year’s end for a total of 10% back.
Tip: Click this link to see you how far along the $1,500 you are.
Citi Dividend – Best Buy & Department Stores
Citi is slightly different to the other cards in that you have a $6,000 annual cap rather than a quarterly cap. A lot of us maxed out the $6,000 in annual spend at the drugstore during Q2 and won’t be eligible for more 5% earnings.
If you still have room left, Best Buy and department stores are both useful categories during the busy shopping season.
Cash+ – Select your Categories
U.S. Bank Cash+ offers 5% cash back in two categories, up to $2,000 combined total per quarter. Here are the current options (keep in mind that Charity was replaced with Ground Transportation):
- Select clothing stores
- Cell phones
- Electronic Stores
- Car rental
- Gyms/Fitness
- Bookstores
- Fastfood
- Ground Transportation
- Sports goods
- Department Stores
- Furniture Stores
- Movie theaters
Tip: Login here, then scroll down and click on the Red “View Your Cash+ History” button.
