PSA: Activate Your 5% Bonus Categories for 2020 Q1 Now!

Screen Shot 2015-12-20 at 22.12.54

2019.12 Update: 2020 Q1 (Jan., Feb., Mar.) 5% categories are released! Now it’s the time to activate them. P.S. Next quarter Citi Dividend has supermarkets as a category, which makes this card actually useful.

A number of credit card issuers have at least one product that offer 5% cashback in categories that rotate every quarter (three months). If you are a Chase Freedom, Discover It, Citi Dividend, or US Bank Cash Plus cardholder, use the links provided below to activate your bonus categories indicated below:

Contents

1. Chase Freedom: Gas Stations, Internet, Cable, and Phone Services
2. Discover it: Grocery Stores, Walgreens, and CVS
3. Citi Dividend: Fitness Clubs, and supermarkets
4. US Bank Cash Plus
Appendix: Historical 5% Categories by Year

1. Chase Freedom: Gas Stations, Internet, Cable, and Phone Services

https://creditcards.chase.com/freedom/activate

The Chase Freedom has a quarterly cap of $1,500 in spend on 5x categories per account.

2. Discover it: Grocery Stores, Walgreens, and CVS

https://www.discover.com/credit-cards/cashback-bonus/cashback-calendar.html

The Discover it has a quarterly cap of $1,500 in spend on 5% categories, which are made available at the beginning of each calendar year. Remember that all new Discover it cardholders will earn double cash back earned in the first 12 months of card membership, including on cash back earned in bonus categories, making quarterly category spend worth 10% back in the first year!

3. Citi Dividend: Fitness Clubs, and supermarkets

https://www.citi.com/credit-cards/credit-cards-citi/citi.action?ID=dividend-quarterly-offer

The Citi Dividend earns 5% cash back on a cumulative total of $6,000 in spend per year rather than on $1,500 spend per quarter. The Citi Dividend is no longer available for signups. Unfortunately, as of September 2019 Citi has also removed the ability to product change to the Dividend, however old accounts have not been closed by the bank.

4. US Bank Cash Plus

https://cashplus.usbank.com/?redirect=cashplus

The US Bank Cash+ card allows you to earn 5% cash back in two categories of your choice every quarter, up to $2,000 in combined spend. It also allows you to choose a 2% cash back category every quarter. The image below shows which categories are available for 5% (top) and 2% (bottom) cash back.