Q2 2020 5% Quarterly Categories: Activate, Offers & Suggestions (Freedom, Discover, Dividend, Cash+)

It’s now possible to activate/enroll all 5% category credit cards for the second quarter of 2020, including the Chase Freedom, Discover IT, Citi Dividend, and US Bank Cash+ and a few more. 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, 2020. Store purchases can usually be done until the last minute. Online purchases should be given a buffer zone of a day or two.

Contents

1 Chase Freedom – Grocery Stores, Fitness/Gym, Streaming
2 Discover – Gas, Uber, Lyft, Wholesale Clubs, Home Depot
3 Citi Dividend – Drugstores, Amazon
4 US Bank Cash+ – Select your Categories
5 Bank of America Cash Rewards
6 Other Cards with 5% Category

Chase Freedom – Grocery Stores, Fitness/Gym, Streaming

Activation Link / FAQ / Sample Stores & Exclusions / Our original post

Earn 5% back this quarter at Grocery Stores, Fitness Clubs, and Gym Memberships, up to $1,500 maximum.

Grocery Stores – you can see a long list here. Most small, local grocery stores should work too; you likely already have experience with knowing which stores code properly and which don’t. Walmart and Target do NOT count.
- If you can’t use up the full $1,500 during the quarter, consider buying a gift card for the grocery store, or find a grocery store that sells Amazon or Visa gift cards and finish it up that way.
Fitness Clubs, Gym Membership – you can see a list of what counts here. Other gyms should count too if coded properly.
Select streaming services
- Eligible streaming services include: Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Sling, Vudu, FuboTV, Apple Music, SiriusXM, Pandora, Spotify, YouTube, ESPN+, Google Play.
- Streaming services gets 6% on Blue Cash Preferred, but some will prefer 5x Ultimate Rewards instead.

Tip: Click this link (login required) to check how far you are along the $1,500.

Discover – Gas, Uber, Lyft, Wholesale Clubs, Home Depot

Activation Link / Our original post

[Update: For the month of June, Home Depot has been added. It combined with the other categories toward the $1,500 limit.]

Earn 5% back this quarter at Gas Stations and Wholesale Clubs, and on Uber and Lyft, up to $1,500 maximum. Excludes purchases made at Walmart and Target.

“Activate to earn 5% Cashback Bonus at Gas Stations (stand-alone), Uber, Lyft and Wholesale Clubs from 4/1/20 (or the date on which you activate 5%, whichever is later) through 6/30/20, on up to $1,500 in purchases. Purchases made at Gas Stations include only merchants in the category that sell automotive gasoline that can be paid for either at the pump or inside the station. Gas Stations affiliated with supermarkets and supercenters may not be eligible. Uber and Lyft purchases include only transactions made for Uber and Lyft Rides in the United States. Uber, the Uber logo is a registered trademark of Uber Technologies, Inc. Lyft, the Lyft logo is a registered trademark of Lyft, Inc. Check with your Wholesale Clubs to make sure your Discover card is accepted. Purchases of affiliated Wholesale Club services, such as travel and cell phone purchases, may not be eligible in this category. Individual merchants and stand-alone stores within physical Wholesale club locations, or online, may not be eligible in this category. Listed merchants are in no way sponsoring or affiliated with this program. Certain digital wallet transactions qualify for 5%, for more information see Discover.com/digitalwallets. Purchases made through third-party payment accounts, 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.”

Useful categories, but not too easy to scale these up to $1,500 unless you travel/drive a lot.

Tip: Login, then click this link to see you how far along the $1,500 you are.

Citi Dividend – Drugstores, Amazon

Landing Page | Our Original Post

Earn 5% back at Drugstores and Amazon this quarter. Citi is different than the other cards in that you have a $6,000 annual cap rather than a $1,500 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.

A lot of people will find the drugstore category interesting as they tons of gift cards, including Visa gift cards. Amazon can be useful as well.

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 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

Our Original Post

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.