Q4 2017 5% Quarterly Categories: Activate, Offers & Suggestions (Freedom, Discover, Dividend, Cash+)

It’s now possible to activate/enroll your 5% credit cards for the fourth quarter of 2017 on Chase Freedom, Discover IT, Citi Dividend, and US Bank Cash+. In this post we’ll provide the activation link for each card and link to track your spend, along with strategies to help increase spend on these categories.

Dates: October 1, 2017 – December 31, 2017. Store purchases can be done until the last minute. Online purchases should be given a buffer zone of a day or two.

Chase Freedom – Walmart & Department Stores

Activation Link / Our original post

Walmart and department stores are both places a lot of us will be shopping during the busy holiday shopping season. They’re also places which don’t typically have bonus earnings on credit cards.

  • Walmart includes physical stores, walmart.com, and Walmart gas, but does not include Sam’s Club. You can easily buy a Walmart gift card at Walmart or walmart.com and use that at Sam’s Club.
  • Department Stores includes places like Sears, Macy’s, Kohl’s, Nordstrom, Nordstrom Rack, and Neiman Marcus. Full list can be found here.  It does not include discount stores or super-centers such as Target, Costco, BJ’s, or Sam’s Club.

If you can’t spend $1,500 organically, consider buying Walmart gift cards for future use at Walmart or Sam’s Club, or buy third-party gift cards at Walmart or walmart.com to lock in the deal almost anywhere. You can also buy $200 Visa gift cards at walmart.com, and it might even be possible to buy $500 Visa/MC gift cards at Walmart stores with a credit card. Also check out Sears stores for a variety of of third-party gift cards.

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

Discover – Amazon and Target

Activation Link / Our original post

Amazon and Target are both popular retailers many of us would shop at regardless. If you don’t make $1,500 in Amazon and Target purchases organically, consider buying Amazon/Target gift cards – or third-party gift cards sold by Amazon and by Target – to lock in the 5% rate.

  • Amazon.com purchases include those made through the Amazon.com checkout, including digital downloads, Amazon.com gift cards, Amazon Fresh orders, Amazon Local Deals, Amazon Prime subscriptions and items sold by third party merchants through Amazon.com’s marketplace.
  • Target purchases include any purchase made online or in-store at Target and SuperTarget. Individual merchants and stand-alone stores within physical Target locations may not be eligible in this category. Purchases made using third-party payment accounts, tap-and-pay, mobile or wireless card readers, virtual wallets or similar technology may not be eligible.
  • Amazon Pay is also working to trigger the 5%. You can see a list of merchants who accept Amazon Pay here.

Bear in mind, it’s possible to earn 5% back on these merchants year-round: Target with their REDcard and Amazon with one of their credit cards. For that reason, some won’t find these valuable. However, Target could still be useful for buying Target gift cards since these don’t earn 5% back with REDcard.

Of particular note, Target has been running a 10% off sale on their gift cards each holiday season for the past two years. The Discover 5% will be an extra bonus there if Target runs that deal again this year. You can also buy $400 Visa gift cards at Target stores which come with a $6 fee if you find that worthwhile; these cards don’t earn 5% with REDcard but will earn 5% with Discover.

New Discover cardholders will get the 5% cashback doubled at year’s end for a total of 10% back.

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

Citi Dividend – Best Buy & Department Stores

Activation Link

Citi is slightly different to the other cards in that you have a $6,000 annual cap rather than a quarterly cap. A lot of us maxed out the $6,000 in annual spend at the drugstore during Q2 and won’t be eligible for more 5% earnings.

If you still have room left, Best Buy and department stores are both useful categories during the busy shopping season.

Cash+ – Select your Categories

Activation link

U.S. Bank Cash+ offers 5% cash back in two categories, up to $2,000 combined total per quarter. Here are the current options (keep in mind that Charity was replaced with Ground Transportation):

  • Select clothing stores
  • Cell phones
  • Electronic Stores
  • Car rental
  • Gyms/Fitness
  • Bookstores
  • Fastfood
  • Ground Transportation
  • Sports goods
  • Department Stores
  • Furniture Stores
  • Movie theaters

Tip: Login here, then scroll down and click on the Red “View Your Cash+ History” button.

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NBG
NBG (@guest_531138)
December 5, 2017 23:35

I posted this in reddit – reposting here for DoC.

For those trying to hit Discover Q4 spend @ Target – here is some good news. The $400 Target VGC are indeed in the store but hidden in the backroom. All you have to do is check in Brickseek for DPCI 290-00-0028 and if it shows up ‘In Stock’ in a store – you can either call and have them check in backroom or just head to the store and have them check and get it from there. Apparently its locked in there.

I just told them that the CS told so and they checked their handheld scanner and got from the backroom. They had plenty of them. Now on to figuring out the liquidation of it :). FYI – i scanned my store for last 1 month on every single rack and cannot find it. Also as a test, i went to 3 stores nearby and this method worked.

Dan
Dan (@guest_541550)
December 26, 2017 17:20

Thanks!

Harry Nguyen
Harry Nguyen (@guest_515916)
November 15, 2017 09:02

Hey guys, I’m thinking about getting the simplicity next year. Very interested in their 21 months of purchase and no balance offers on top of that they always send offers for 0% apr for a year or so. But, wanted to know if I could PC to the Dividend? I know from the above that you could but I guess it depends on the card, reason being is so that I could get another 21 month after the 2nd year lol. Thanks!

Gus
Gus (@guest_504668)
November 1, 2017 00:08
Prem
Prem (@guest_501189)
October 25, 2017 21:58

I got the VGC from WM with CF (500 x 3) and got the 5% bonus which credited correctly.

Now question is how to liquidate these VGC’s? Do i need to register and activate them like it says on back of card? Or can i just open it and get MO without any registration/activation?

Anyone with experience for this?

ppsh
ppsh (@guest_495961)
October 17, 2017 23:49

What a whiny entitled brat. There’re over a half dozen varieties of those $4.94 variable load Walmart VGCs at the stores in my location. Would you expect fellow readers to post each and every one of those for you because of your impressive complaining “skillz”?

Sarah
Sarah (@guest_493082)
October 12, 2017 21:35

Any one here has courtesy to reply to posts i see asking what kind of Greendot to Buy at WMT? Reloadable ones or Fixed ones?

And how much can be loaded on 1 Card?

I went to 3 WMT’s today and only see Reloadable ones with $1.95 purchase fee.

Should i get them?

If yes, what to do with Reloadable cards once drained? Thanks.

JASON
JASON (@guest_493873)
October 14, 2017 13:05

I saw the $1.95 fee one too. Tried to pay but screen shows cancelled, and was told I needed to go to customer service instead of checking out at the cashier. I saw the line too long so just left. I didn’t know which one to buy either.

TomJ
TomJ (@guest_493877)
October 14, 2017 13:13

The one I bought was the one that had the 4.94 fee. I paid with my Freedom card and had no problems. I am pretty sure it has “Walmart” on the package.

Sarah
Sarah (@guest_494019)
October 14, 2017 19:41

Can you post a pic of what you got? The numbnuts over here are not helpful in answering the questions posted
Bout Greendot so far, it seems.

Maybe they wanna hog the benefits all by themselves

TomJ
TomJ (@guest_494417)
October 15, 2017 17:00

Sarah, I was in another city today and stopped by Walmart to pick up a card because I needed one more and to take a pic. Unfortunately, that Walmart simply didn’t have any!

I think the problem some of you are having is that your Walmarts don’t carry the right card. But, if I get a chance to stop in at my usual Walmart, I will pick one up and at least try to post a pic. .

TomJ
TomJ (@guest_496429)
October 18, 2017 19:09

Sarah, I found a link with a pic of the VGC that I was able to buy at Walmart. The only difference between this one and mine is the fee.

https://imgur.com/a/867JC

I hope the link works!

Sarah
Sarah (@guest_497022)
October 19, 2017 18:48

Dearest Tomj, You rock. I was actually able to buy 3 of these cards earlier today based on the info you provided on 10/14/17. Wish you had your own blog and all reasonable and helpful people could move over to your website, as this one here is full of arrogant rascals who think they have done PhD in Churning and consider themselves experts and look down on other people who could be knew and may ask some questions which may appear stupid to these arrogant dastards….But guess what….we have other constructive things to do like do a job, feed a family etc etc, and do not get nuff time to research things here and spend heaps of hours like THESE EXPERTS DO…………and we thank them for what they do, but when Success and arrogance reaches the brain, they fart foul smelling verbiage………..Shocking is complete absence of whosoever the SITE OWNER is…in chipping in with some info……………..But kudos to you, spend on one CF completed, 3 more left to complete till 12/31………Thanks again, much appreciated………..hopefully the arrogant (B)Rats over here will learn to b more humble N hopeful.

JASON
JASON (@guest_497104)
October 19, 2017 21:09

Yeah right go get a life for yourself.

William Charles
Admin
October 19, 2017 21:57

Hi Sarah,

I’m sorry you don’t find the free information on this site helpful. I don’t have time to individually reply to every comment, as I have a job and must also feed my family. I’m sure you can understand.

I’m sure you don’t want my advice, but generally when you want help it’s a good idea not to insult the people who you’re asking for help from.

In future I’d ask you to please be more respectful to other readers on this site.

Jason
Jason (@guest_550888)
January 15, 2018 17:19

Just curious, Sarah, did you get your $60 (assuming 1% fee) last quarter, so $1500X(5-1)%=$60 at most? Try to change your name next time when you ask a question, or no one would help you.

Jason
Jason (@guest_553866)
January 24, 2018 14:13

Did you get your $60 Sarah? I hope you lose much more money this year than you gained last year

kirk
kirk (@guest_494375)
October 15, 2017 13:43

get a visa giftcard that is a variable load of $20-$500. the fee is $4.94. it will say greendot & walmart at the back of the packaging. btw some wallys like mine are hardcoded for cash/debit only (i will try again just to reconfirm though lol). so ymmv. goodluck!

Sarah
Sarah (@guest_494518)
October 15, 2017 20:14

Thanks a lot Kirk and Tomj for replying. I will look for those, but looks like most likely they aren’t available in my areas. The regular reloadable Greendots are useless as they charge $1.95 purchase fee + $7.95 service fee for 1st month.

A BIG BOO FOR SITE ADMIN AND ALL THE PREVIOUS AZZHOLES WHO DESPITE READING POSTS, IGNORED TO HELP OR REPLY, WHICH IS AGIANST THIS WEBSITE GENERAL TREND OF HELPING OUT EACH OTHER AND EDUCATING NOVICES LIKE ME WHO ARE NOT EXPERTS in THE Churning BUSINESS ……………………MY FAULT I GUESS

bmanamex
bmanamex (@guest_494521)
October 15, 2017 20:19

You’re an entitled idiot who can’t use the search button on this site or other very popular sites who have this information. You have only yourself to blame. This and your attitude towards the members of this community are why you’re not getting answers.

JASON
JASON (@guest_494577)
October 15, 2017 22:41

Sarah, do you have any ideas of what you are saying on the 2nd part? None of us here are your personal servant, we or anyone here is NOT RESPONSIBLE to answer anyone else’s including your questions/inquiries. And there are hundreds of reasons why some other people did not get back to you. Not subscribed, not checking posts regularly, not checking emails regularly, not have the info you wanted, on vacation, etc.. You are calling people assholes simply because they do not voluntarily provide you info for you to grab a deal and the deal is only for your own benefits? And you even dare to call that “against this website general trend of helping out”? Are the rest of us responsible to help you? You are the only few one that’s against this website’s general trend and I really hope no one would ever help you with anything from now on.

Bmanamex
Bmanamex (@guest_491837)
October 11, 2017 08:39

Green dot drains with serve

Jacinto
Jacinto (@guest_491836)
October 11, 2017 08:36

Target $400 GC would not drain to buy MO at my WM.

Eduard
Eduard (@guest_494812)
October 16, 2017 09:32

Same experience with $200 Metas from Target

ppsh
ppsh (@guest_495958)
October 17, 2017 23:45

How do you make the $200 Metas from Target worth your while? By my calculation, it’d be less than 2% profit, since Target charge $6 per ($200) GC. That’s 3% right there, leaving you with less than 2% margin, after deducting the cost to liquidate the Metas (USPS or grocery story MO). It seems much work for very little gain.

Eduard
Eduard (@guest_495962)
October 17, 2017 23:51

Yeah, they’re not that great, looked all over for the $400 ones, but couldn’t find any. I am still within my double cashback match period…. So i still came out ahead some.

Eduard
Eduard (@guest_490463)
October 9, 2017 09:58

WARNING: Be careful when buying the Greendots from walmart. I tried to buy 2 of them and split the payment across two freedoms. The first payment went through fine, but the second one failed and “canceled” the transaction. The managers came over and were stunned as the receipts said that the cashier had to refund me $9.88 (Visa fees). They assured me that it would not be charged and go as pending, but then fall off. I took the $9.88 and bought another set but paid in fully with one Freedom with another cashier (they claimed that the jewelry counter where I tried to pay did not work for VGC). Paying in fully worked fine….. This happened on Saturday. This morning I checked my Chase account and ALL the charges went through. I have over $2000 sitting on my Freedoms. CLEARED, and no longer pending. Anyone have any idea what I can do? Any advice?

TomJ
TomJ (@guest_490534)
October 9, 2017 11:54

Yeah, either call Chase immediately or go to Walmart immediately. BTW, my daughter was charged $800 for a sub sandwich. She went back to the store and they made it good and gave her a free sub.

Eduard
Eduard (@guest_491419)
October 10, 2017 15:14

Thanks for the reply TomJ. I called and the manager I dealt with wont come in until Wednesday. I spoke to another assistant manager and she asked for me to wait a day just in case they would automatically push a refund. Supposed to go and talk to her today as I did not receive anything as of yet.

Raol
Raol (@guest_493373)
October 13, 2017 14:14

What Kind of Greendots did you Buy? Fixed or Reloadable ones? Did you get the money back? I am nervous to buy after reading your experience.

Eduard
Eduard (@guest_494811)
October 16, 2017 09:31

I bought the variable load ones. This happened on 10/7 and today I still did not get the refund back. I went to the store and they said that their accounting looked into it and they never got the money. Told me that refunds like this can take 7-10 business days.

Mimi
Mimi (@guest_499119)
October 23, 2017 08:17

There are reports on flyertalk where the WM VGCs did NOT activate properly and their CC was charged. It took several days before refund was initiated so you might want to try a small amount first to make sure it works.

Rekha
Rekha (@guest_488431)
October 5, 2017 19:03

People buying Greendot…. is it the variable reloadable version? There is a fee to buy them?

Max amount one can load per card?