Chase Freedom 5% Categories For Q4 2016: Drugstores, Department Stores & Wholesale Clubs

You can now view the Chase Freedom 5% cash back categories for the fourth quarter of 2016 at this link (registration will start tomorrow). The categories will be as follows:

  • Department Stores
  • Drug Stores
  • Wholesale Clubs

quarter-4-categories

The drug store inclusion will be welcomed by many, but seems a little odd as the preview was listed as holiday shopping. In previous years that was department stores and Amazon, but given that other cards earn at a high rate on Amazon purchases and the Discover it will also earn 5% back on Amazon.com, department stores and Sam’s club for Q4 I suspect most people will be pretty happy with these categories.

Hat tip to reader David P

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Jason
Jason (@guest_312170)
November 4, 2016 09:33

I had my first freedom card in 2012 and freedom unlimited this year. Requested a product change from freedom unlimited to freedom last week, login today and see it allow me to activate this quarter’s 5%bonus, so I have 2 freedom cards now.

The freedom unlimited card was good for its sign up bonus, and then earns everything else at 1.5% but got to wait till the statement posted. I also have 1.5% Capital One but it can be redeemed for credit/cash back any time! So don’t need unlimited card anyway. So now my quarter limit is $3000 which is $150 cash back!

Mist Soalar
Mist Soalar (@guest_303809)
October 5, 2016 22:12

Does anyone know jet.com come into wholesale category?

JASON
JASON (@guest_305849)
October 12, 2016 13:19

You can buy a little something from there and wait till the charges posted on your chase credit card

Mist Soalar
Mist Soalar (@guest_311555)
November 2, 2016 13:47

FYI, Jet.com on my CSR was coded as “Online Mall”, I guess it won’t count for 5% bonus on Freedom.

David
David (@guest_295609)
September 15, 2016 17:02

You can just buy Amazon gift cards at drug stores. Then, amazon spending can be 5x points as well. Pretty easy to max out this one.

AlexS
AlexS (@guest_295907)
September 16, 2016 10:15

BUT…if you buy via Amazon GCs, you lose out on being able to use your CC’s price protection. I’ve gotten back ~$600 off of ~$3k spend via price protection since July. 20% off > 5x UR points.

Lantean
Lantean (@guest_295458)
September 15, 2016 10:13

maybe they will bring the Amazon special like they did last year.

Adam
Adam (@guest_295418)
September 15, 2016 08:21

Any cash equivalents we can buy in drugstores?

Jason
Jason (@guest_295450)
September 15, 2016 09:54

Last time for 5% on drug store was back in 2012 I guess. This time it reminds me Paypal my cash card. I’ll try it on 10/1 and advise.

JASON
JASON (@guest_305850)
October 12, 2016 13:24

Paypal Mycash card and Vanilla Visa still work. I personally prefer PPMC as I don’t withdraw to my bank account from the paypal account that loads money directly. But it is not available in most of the stores I know about.

I used Plastiq to unload one vanilla as it needs to be registered with zip code and can be any zip code. It works perfectly fine to me. Both my Dad and I have freedom card so that’s $150 this quarter.

Radster
Radster (@guest_295596)
September 15, 2016 16:22

Vanilla VGCs at CVS are still available for purchase using CC.

Mike
Mike (@guest_295295)
September 14, 2016 22:13

Will this stack with shop through chase bonuses?

Jeff Hix
Jeff Hix (@guest_295262)
September 14, 2016 20:46

Your “this link” above is broken.

Try https://creditcards.chase.com/freedom/calendar

Jeff H
Jeff H (@guest_295365)
September 15, 2016 03:35

The new Fourth quarter Freedom 5% signup link is open for business

https://www.chasebonus.com/

Department stores, Drug Stores, Discount Stores

Merchants Not Classified as Department Stores:
Target
WalMart
Kmart
Discount stores such as Tj Maxx
Electronics stores
General merchandise and Variety stores
Gift cards purchased at any locations other than the department stores on the inclusion list

Wholesale Clubs Related Purchase Exclusions:
Gas and Fuel
Wholesale Clubs specialty services such as travel, insurance, cell phone and home improvement.

Red
Red (@guest_295261)
September 14, 2016 20:44

Drug stores? For those considering downgrading their CSP after getting CSR this suddenly makes regular Freedom a more tempting option than Freedom Unlimited, even if you already have a regular freedom.

Aaron
Aaron (@guest_295274)
September 14, 2016 20:58

This. If you maxed out your Freedom card every quarter, you’d earn 30k UR points. To reach 30k UR on the FU, you’d need $20k of spend, vs only $6k on the Freedom.

Nick
Nick (@guest_295230)
September 14, 2016 20:16

Nevermind. No Target. I will miss Amazon this year.

Lively
Lively (@guest_295257)
September 14, 2016 20:38

Buy Amazon GC at CVS or Walgreens?

Mike
Mike (@guest_295281)
September 14, 2016 21:36

You can get 5X all year round on Amazon GCs via Gyft when you pay with PayPal.

I would prefer Grocery myself. Warehouse is nice though too.

noodles
noodles (@guest_295284)
September 14, 2016 21:40

Surely you’ve been in the game long enough to know 5x UR is worth considerably more than 5% cash back.

anthonyjh21
anthonyjh21 (@guest_295323)
September 15, 2016 00:06

And surely you know that 5x is the baseline as far as value is concerned and as such is the responsible way to frame his point.

Anyone in the “game” long enough knows that value is what you make of it and every situation is YMMV. I have three INK cards and earn much faster than I burn. I’ve cashed in at the *gulp* 1:1 ratio and haven’t had second thoughts. Stupid for your case? Perhaps. But I’m not you and you’re not me.

Not an Idiot
Not an Idiot (@guest_295351)
September 15, 2016 02:27

This guy is an idiot.

Jason
Jason (@guest_295449)
September 15, 2016 09:51

Can you tell me how to get 3 INK cards? I get none

anthonyjh21
anthonyjh21 (@guest_295538)
September 15, 2016 14:15

Who’s an idiot? No one said anything worth being called names.

@Jason

I was lucky enough to get in before 5/24 and I’m including my wife’s card.

anthonyjh21
anthonyjh21 (@guest_295324)
September 15, 2016 00:08

I was secretly hoping that Chase would go to battle with Discover again and offer 10% for Amazon in Q4. I suppose anything is still possible but I’m not holding my breath that they’ll up the ante on a store that’s not even listed within Q4.

On that same note, Amex had that crazy offer of $15 off $60 last year. Let’s just hope that that continues as we approach the holiday season.

Nick
Nick (@guest_295229)
September 14, 2016 20:11

Does Target count as a drug or department store?