You can now activate your 5% cash back categories on the following cards: Discover it, Chase Freedom & Citi Dividend. We’ve included the links to activation below, as well as examples of what counts for quarter two. Keep in mind you won’t start earning 5% in these categories until April. If you want more information on how it’s determined what business specifically codes as, I’d read this post.
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Chase Freedom (Grocery Stores & Wholesale Clubs)
You’ll earn 5% cash back on all purchases made at grocery stores. They don’t give any examples of what does count for grocery stores (but I’m sure you know what is a grocery store), but they specifically state that Walmart & Target will not count. This quarter also includes wholesale clubs and specifically states BJ’s & Sam’s Club as working. It’ll be interesting to see if Costco will also code as a 5% category when they start accepting Visa payments in June.
Discover it (Restaurants & Movies)
Discover gives us a bit more information on what is included in their categories:
- Restaurant purchases are those made at merchants classified as full-service restaurants, cafes, cafeterias and fast food locations
- Movie purchases are those made at merchants classified as movie theaters, video rental stores, and online movie ticket services. Purchases made at warehouse clubs, wholesale distributors and discount stores are not eligible
Also keep in mind your Discover cash back will be doubled if you’re enrolled in the Discover double cash back promotion.
Citi Dividend (Drug Stores & Fitness Clubs)
You’ll earn 5% back on Drugstores & Fitness Clubs, Citi Dividend is a bit different to the other cards in that you can spend up to $6,000 per year and receive 5% cash back. You don’t have to split it with $1,500 per quarter in spend. Drug stores are probably the best category for people manufactured spending. So most people will want to max out this category. Unfortunately when I wrote this post they weren’t give out examples of what counts, but when it goes live they should be so just click through to activation.
Made more calls today…got more conflicting info. Just going to order something on April 1st and ship it to my home. A piece of clothing. Something cheap. See what happens with the charge. Once it posts to the account you can click on the actual charge online and it will tell you if it qualifies and is giving bonus points.
I bought a $25 Costco cash card right before I called the CSR regarding the codes that will activate the bonus. Costco.com classified as a 5399 purchase based on Visa MCC numbers, and should count for the bonus, unless the 2 reps I spoke with were both misinformed.
https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/4agymr/freedom_q2_includes_sams_club/d10kzm1
Your reps were wrong. I had two reps argue with me yesterday telling me wholesale clubs were NOT even included in April. I had to escalate it and Chase ended up giving me 3000 points because their reps kept giving me wrong info.
5399 is the code the charges come up as. This is the code for msc gen merchandise.
In order to trigger bonus they have to use 5300. tHis is the code for wholesale clubs.
For whatever reason right now at this time Costco is using 5399 for their online visa/mc purchases. So until they change the code there will be no bonus.
At first even the supervisor I spoke to said “that it should count” as long as they use the merchant code for wholesale clubs. Once he saw my previous purchase and the 5399 code he had to correct himself and tell me it would not.
I checked online for the master code list for mc/visa and 5300 is the code for wholesale clubs.
Here’s what I did specifically in both phone calls:
I called the JP Morgan line listed on the back of my Ritz card (CSP number will also work if you want a US based CSR for all your Chase credit card problems), and the 2 questions I asked were “What’s the MCC code for this Costco.com purchase I just made” and “What are all the applicable Visa MCC codes that apply for the bonus”, not “Is Costco.com considered a wholesale club”, in which once they compare the numbers (5399 to 5300), it’s not. After asking the 2 former questions, that’s when I got the applicable Visa MCC for the bonus to be 5300, 5310, 5331, 5399, 5411, 5422, 5441, 5499, 5931, and 7278.
You can call again to confirm what I said here is true or not; I know I will.
Thanks! It is getting so frustrating with the misinformation…geez! I will call again and also write!
I sent a message to the twitter team that responded earlier and gave me the 3000 points. I also sent an email back to the email response team that said it would NOT. Should be interesting to compare their responses.
I called again, and now I’m getting conflicting information as well. Who knows; you may be right. Only way to absolutely be sure is to wait until April and make a test purchase then to see if the bonus applies for it or not.
Chase Freedom: Does anyone know if you get the 5% bonus for Costco.com?
The churning subreddit has stated that Costco should be accepted for the bonus on the Chase Freedom!!
Do you have a link to that reddit page? I even had a Chase rep tell me it “should” but then he even admitted it won’t when he saw how they coded Costco.com purchases as misc: general merchandise. I also had a CSR email me telling me Costco wasn’t going to work for the bonus….
Sam’s club does take visa. Used a visa there a week ago.
Think the bonus would trigger at costco.com?
Anybody got any datapoints on what costco.com codes as? If it’s a wholesale store, it should work fine.
I bought some things recently at costco.com with my Citi TY card. Just looked and that coded as ‘MISC GENERAL MERCHANDISE NOT CLASSIFIED’. I assume that means no Freedom bonus at costco.com.
Another data point. Used my Chase card to buy a $500 gift card at Costco.com. I usually do this anyway to make spend on my cards. I spoke with Chase and it turns up as Misc:General Merchandise on their end. At first the rep thought it would work too. He said “if it shows up as a wholesale club”. But once we had an actual purchase to look at I realized it would not.
Come June when they start to accept VISA I hope that changes. But time will tell….
Sam’s club doesn’t take Visa credit (which my freedom is); however they do take it at the gas station . . . will that count??
Sam’s club began taking Visa in store on February 1. You are correct that they used to not accept visa credit.
Still possible to product change to Citi Dividend? I think it has been in limbo. Thanks.
I think still possible.
Yep, still possible. Did one in 2017.