It’s now possible to activate all 5% category credit cards for the third quarter of 2023, including the Chase Freedom, Chase Freedom Flex, Discover IT, Citi Dividend, US Bank Cash+ and some smaller cards. 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: July 1st – September 30, 2023. Store purchases can usually be done until the last minute while online purchases should be given a buffer zone of a day or two.
Contents
Chase Freedom – Gas, EV Charging, Entertainment
Activation Link / FAQ / Sample Stores & Exclusions / Our original post
With the Freedom and Freedom Flex cards, activate to earn 5% back this quarter on up to $1,500 in spend at
- Gas Stations – Works well for gas, and might work on convenience stores like 7-Eleven.
- Electric Vehicle Charging
- Select Live Entertainment – includes things like sporting events, amusement parks, museums and more. See a list of examples here.
Tip: Click this link (login required) to check how far you are along the $1,500.
Discover – Gas, Digital Wallets
Activation Link / Our original post
With your Discover card, activate to earn 5% back this quarter on up to $1,500 in purchases at Gas Stations and on Digital Wallets.
- Gas Stations
- Works well for gas, and might work on convenience stores like 7-Eleven.
- Digital Wallets
- Add your Discover card to your mobile wallet and get 5% anywhere digital wallets are accepted. The fine print mentions specifically the following digital wallets: Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Garmin Pay, and in store with Google Pay. Others might work as well.
Gas Station purchases include those made at merchants classified as places that sell automotive gasoline that can be bought at the pump or inside the station, and public electric vehicle charging stations. Gas Stations affiliated with supermarkets, supercenters, and wholesale clubs may not be eligible. Digital Wallet purchases include some online purchases and some in-store purchases made with your smartphone, tablet, or wearable. Wallets that qualify include Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Garmin Pay and in store with Google Pay. Apple Pay transactions included in this offer are transactions made in-store or online when using the Apple Pay button. Using digital wallets to make purchases at gas stations will only earn a total of 5%.
Tip: Login, then click this link to see you how far along the $1,500 you are.
Citi Dividend – Gas, Home Improvement
Landing Page | Our Original Post
With your Dividend card, activate to earn 5% back this quarter at Gas Stations and Home Improvement Stores. Citi is different than the other cards in that you have a $6,000 annual cap rather than a $1,500 quarterly cap. You can get 5% back on up to $6,000 in this quarter or you can save the entire amount for a different quarter, or you can use part up each quarter.
- Gas Stations – Works well for gas, and might work on convenience stores like 7-Eleven.
- Home Improvement Stores – should include Home Depot, Lowe’s, and other such stores.
Gas Stations: Excludes gasoline purchases at warehouse clubs, discount stores, convenience stores or other merchants that do not use the gas station merchant category code.
Home Improvement Stores: Includes purchases at home supply warehouse stores, lumber and building materials stores, paint and wallpaper stores, hardware stores, nurseries – lawn and garden supply stores and paints, varnishes and supplies stores. Excludes florists and florists’ supply stores; nursery stock; wholesale construction stores; and glass stores.
US Bank Cash+/Elan – Select your Categories
Activation link | Merchant List | Our Original Post
U.S. Bank Cash+ and Elan Max offer 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 Customized 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 and EV charging stations (default category)
- Online Shopping; this category also includes cable, streaming, internet, and phone plan
- 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
Nusenda FCU – Gas, Education, Hotels, Airfare
Landing Page | Our Original Post
- Earn 5% this quarter on up to $1,500 in purchases on Gas Expenses, Education Expenses, Hotels, and Airfare.
This is on top of the regular 1% for a total earn of 6% back.
Affinity FCU – Spend Bonus
Landing Page | Our Original Post
- Affinity no longer runs a traditional 5x category. Instead they run a spend bonus for the duration of each quarter. This quarter, in addition to the standard points, cardholders will earn:???
3,000 points when spending $2,0006,500 points when spending $5,00011,500 points when spending $7,500
Abound CU – Streaming, Phone, Cable, Internet
Landing page | Our Original Post
- Abound Credit Union Visa Platinum card offers 5% on up to $2,000 on Travel purchases.
- That includes: Airlines, Car Rental, Lodging, Cruise Lines, Air Carriers, Airport, airport terminals & flying fields, Travel Agencies & Tour Operators, Lodging Hotels, Motels, Resorts not elsewhere classified, Timeshares, Auto Rental Agency- not elsewhere classified, Motor Home & Recreational Vehicle Rental.
Langley FCU – Grocery, Drugstore, Home
Landing Page | Our Original Post
- Langley Federal Credit Union offers 5% back each month in one selected category, on up to $100 cash back total ($2,000 spend).
- The category options at time of this writing: Streaming, Phone, Cable & Internet services.
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
Safe Credit Union [CA] – Home, Utility, Amazon, Travel
Landing Page | Our Original Post
Safe Credit Union Cash Rewards Visa card offers 5% this quarter on your choice of one category each quarter (with no apparent limit). This quarter the categories are:
- Home Improvement, Utilities, Amazon, Travel
For my USBank Cash+ card, I have a $10 promo for paying for 2 “streaming service bills”. I don’t have any streaming service at the moment. The eligible services include Amazon Music and Amazon Prime Video. Does Amazon really have separate MCCs for Music and Prime Video? If not, would any Amazon purchase work, which is “shopping”?
anyone know if I used discover card in Digital Wallets at gas station, will get 10%?
Terms specifically said it will be 5% in this case.
I activated the Chase category a couple of weeks ago. Today I was on their site and saw “activate category” and thoughr maybe I missed it. So I clicked and lo and behold it was offering 5% on groceries and gas. This happened on both my freedom and freedom unlimited cards.
Was that on the “5% Categories” page? I don’t see it on any of my cards.
FYI, Google pay is truly in store only… or at YMMV for in app. Made an in app Google pay payment to progressive and it only coded as 1%.
Yup. I made the mistake of using Google Pay for an eBay transaction. Only 1%.
For what it’s worth, this happened to me last year and I complained about it to chat. They actually gave me the missing 4% back as a statement credit. At the time, however, they said it was a system error that GPay on eBay didn’t work. Now it seems like the terms of the offer are different, so YMMV. If it was a big purchase, might be worth trying anyways.
I wonder why Google Pay is limited to in-store purchases, when some websites and apps accept Google pay.
I wonder how it differentiates between the two and what it would code as in reality.
I’ll add the same disclaimer I put about Live Entertainment in the Chase specific post.
Good luck using it for much beyond concerts and professional sports tickets. I was disappointed last year to see that museums and collegiate sports tickets often coded as donations or education because the seller was the non-profit entity and I only earned 1X on them. Chase didn’t exclude them in terms but the coding was wildly inconsistent.
It will work on direct theme park tickets but the bundled discount tickets from travel agents or city tourism sites will probably code as travel instead (ran into that with tickets for many San Diego attractions last year). Those can often be a better deal than direct which makes the category harder to use.
Anybody know if Langley CU is MS friendly?
Anyone know if purchases inside Disney (food, souvenirs, etc) count for live entertainment or just the entrance fees.
Don’t know but what I personally do is just buy a discounted Disney gift card ahead of time and use that for everything in the park.
Pretty sure just the admission counts. Restaurants inside the park count as dining, resorts are travel/lodging, and merchandise is just regular shopping, so the coding seems pretty accurate.
Gas is very useful for me. Have a lot of trips coming up!!!!
For Chase Freedom Flex, anyone know if Costco Gasoline works for gas stations category?
On second thought, looks like Costco Gas does not accept Mastercard.
I was actually thinking Costco Canada in case if that’s an option as they accept Mastercard. But I realized that CFF has Foreign Transaction Fee anyways. So I guess it’s SOL for Costco.
The original chase freedom is a Visa, if you have it.