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
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.]
- “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.
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
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 – Grocery, Dining, Transportation
Registration Link | Our Original Post
- Earn 5x points on grocery, restaurants and several forms of transportation, up to $1,500 in purchases. Offer activation required.
Nusenda FCU – Movies, Restaurants, Home Improvements
Landing Page | Our Original Post
- Earn 5% this quarter on Movies, Restaurants, and Home Improvements, up to $1,500 in purchases.
Affinity FCU – Grocery, Gas, Streaming
Landing Page | Our Original Post
- Earn 5% this quarter on purchases on Grocery, Gas, and Streaming Services.
The 5x is on top of regular earn for a total of 6x or 7x, depending on the card. There also does not appear to be any limit.
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
NFCU just sent out a targeted offer for 5% at Walmart. Both P1 & P2 got it so I’m thinking it was pretty widespread. You do have to opt-in by logging into NFCU, clicking on your credit card, clicking rewards, and view “My Offers”.
Chuck 
William Charles
Promo Name Earn 5X Points or 5 Percent cash back at Walmart
Duration Jun 15, 2020 – Sep 30, 2020
Promo Description Earn 5X points or 5% cash back when you shop at Walmart from April 1 – Sept. 30.
Terms: This offer is non-transferable and valid for the intended recipient only. Offer valid for existing targeted Visa cashRewards, Visa GO REWARDS, and Visa Signature Flagship Rewards cardholders who enroll to receive the promotion through My Offers. To be eligible for the 5x points or 5% cash back, Walmart purchases must be made between April 1, 2020 and September 30, 2020. The offer applies to qualifying Walmart purchases, defined by specific merchant category codes (MCCs). Merchants who accept credit cards are assigned an MCC based on the merchant’s primary line of business. Each merchant, not Navy Federal, determines its MCC. If the merchant does not process transactions under a MCC that corresponds with the offer, your purchase may not qualify to receive 5x points or 5% cash back. Cash equivalent purchases, such as the purchase, loading, or reloading of gift and prepaid cards (e.g., money orders, Visa ® Buxx Cards, and other cash equivalent gift cards) may not be eligible for the offer. Reward type (points or cash back) will be based on your purchasing credit card. Account must be open and not in default for the rewards to post to your account. Recipient is solely responsible for any personal tax liability arising out of the acceptance of this offer.
My question would be… do walmart.com, supercenter, and neighborhood market purchases count. I would assume so.
Doc, Discover has now added Home Depot. It’s 5% cash back from 6/1-6/30.
https://www.bayportcu.org/borrow/credit-cards/ Another rotating 5% credit card.
Are you sure this is rotating? Looks like might just be a temp 5% bonus?
If you scroll down on that page, it shows the Calendar for 2020… “Each quarter earns perks on a new category!”
But it’s not a true 5% card. Having only one category 2% boost per quarter is pretty limiting IMO… but I like the base 3% portion as that should count for any purchase, regardless of category, up to the limit of 3K/quarter.
I would test drive it if I banked there, but they are local to me, so maybe someday….
Silly newb question here. My parents are Costco members, but I am not so I’m asking for them. Never having made a purchase from Costco’s website before so does the website accept Discover cards because I know gas pumps and in-store purchases have to be Visa. Is there a different fee for using a Discover card online because I thought it was only Visa accepted? Or can online purchases be in any form of credit card, with purchases in physical stores only been visa//check/cash etc.? Will Costco ship these gift cards to home addresses, hopefully with free shipping so I don’t have to fight with stores for in-store pick up of them or get them physically. I wish that Discover card could be used through Samsung pay at the gas pump, I guess in my dreams though. The only other fees that I know of are nonmembers get charged a fee in making a purchase at Costco’s website/instore. If I’m not mistaken. Please correct any of my misinformation so I can pass it onto them. Thanks.
You can use any card online. No fees. Like was said above you can buy a GC with your Discover, then go use in store. I suppose the theory is you can use cash/checks in store but not online so they want to give you more options in case you don’t have a Visa.
I’ll make it easy for everyone with a stop and shop near them. Buy three $500 MasterCard gift cards on CF.
You get the $1,500 spend and 3,000 gas points.
Hurry, deal ends tomorrow.
What does the 3000 gas points translate to?
Around here, it looks like they can used at Shell which is always 15 cents more than other gas stations.
$1.50 off a gallon of gas for 20 gallons. 3000 points is good for this twice. I have some 5 gallon cans and I keep extra in the garage to fill cars/ equipment. Last fill up I paid .49 per gallon.
I also buy 20 gallons of diesel (use yellow cans specially for diesel) to fill my oil tank for home heating. Last fill up was $1.19 per gallon.
Thank you.
It looks like the points expire in 30 days.
I am not driving at all.
Anything else besides gas?
Just diesel for home heating.
Which supermarkets have the $500 VISA gift cards?
I know ShopRite has either $100 or $200.
Anyone having issues with activating on Citi Dividend card. The link leads me to activation page, upon login it directs to sign up for saving account. No option to activate.
Try going to https://www.citi.com/credit-cards/credit-cards-citi/citi.action?ID=dividend-quarterly-offer in an incognito/private browser. (And then select the Dividend card in the pulldown menu)
Thank you! Incognito worked.
Has anyone tried diamonds and travel at Sam’s Club? Works for Discover 5%? They are online transcations. Shall I purchase gift card to use on them?
I am also interested too. I did a test $10 transaction today on the Sam’s Club website. I will reply when I find out.
Brian, did you get the 5% to trigger online with Sam’s?
Where are you seeing streaming for 2Q on Chase Freedom? That was a 1Q category only, as far as I can see on the calendar: https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/freedom/calendar
They added it the other day.
Read the post, click the link in the post or just look at the image in the post.
If you have a Phillips 66 station nearby you might be better off using a Chase card to pay. If you use Chase pay through the Phillips 66 ap you get 25 cents off per gallon.