Starts Today! Earn Extra Points & Cash Back in the New 5X Bonus Categories With These Cards

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Today starts the beginning of a new quarter, which means new 5% cash back bonus categories with cards like the Chase Freedom, Discover it® Cash Back, and more.

So don’t forget to activate these bonuses to earn more points and cash back on your everyday spending!

Here’s more about this quarter’s categories and how to register for these bonuses!

Earn More This Quarter With These Cards

Chase Freedom

Link:   Chase Freedom

Link:   My Review of the Chase Freedom

Link:   Activate the Chase Freedom Bonus

Through September 30, 2016, you’ll earn 5X Chase Ultimate Rewards points (5% cash back) on up to $1,500 in combined spending at restaurants and wholesale clubs (like Costco!) with the Chase Freedom card when you activate the bonus by September 14, 2016.

Note:  The bonus at wholesale clubs does NOT include gas, fuel, or wholesale club specialty service purchases like travel, insurance, cell phone, and home improvement.

Chase Freedom is my favorite no-annual-fee card because you can earn a lot of Chase Ultimate Rewards points on things you buy anyway.

And right now, you can earn 15,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points ($150 in cash back) when you sign-up for the Chase Freedom card and spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months of opening your account.

When you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Ink Bold (no longer available), or the Chase Ink Plus, you can transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to airline and hotel partners like United Airlines and Hyatt for Big Travel!

Here’s my full review of the Chase Freedom card.

Discover it

Link:   Discover it Cash Back

Link:   Activate the Discover it Bonus

Through September 30, 2016, you’ll earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in purchases at home improvement stores and Amazon.com with the Discover it Cash Back card.

Just remember, you must activate the bonus.

And if you’re a new cardmember, Discover will automatically match all the cash back you’ve earned at the end of your first year as a cardholder.  And apply the match after the first 12 consecutive billing cycles within the following 2 billing cycles.

So you can effectively earn 10% cash back on the rotating bonus categories.  That’s a great deal!

For folks who already have the card, you’re eligible to get a 2nd card if you’ve had the 1st card at least 1 year.

Citi Dividend

Link:   Citi Dividend 2016 Calendar

Link:   Activate the Citi Dividend Bonus

The Citi Dividend card is no longer open to new applications.  But if you already have this card, you can earn 5% cash back at Hilton hotels and on car rentals through September 30, 2016.

You can earn a total of $300 cash back each year with the Citi Dividend card.  So you can earn it all in 1 quarter or throughout the year.

US Bank Cash+

Link:   US Bank Cash+

Link:   US Bank Cash+ Categories

Each quarter with the US Bank Cash+ card, you can choose new bonus spending categories.

You can pick two 5% cash back categories and one 2% cash back category (gas stations, groceries, or restaurants).

There are lots of 5% cash back categories!  Here are a few ideas, but check the merchant examples for more details:

• Bookstores – Barnes & Noble, Amazon Kindle Books, and some University Bookstores.  Note:  Some folks say they’ve received 5% back on many Amazon purchases besides books with this category.

• Car Rental – Avis, Budget, National Car Rental

• Cell Phone – AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon

• Charity – American Cancer Society, Kiva, The Salvation Army

• Department Stores – Bloomingdales, JCPenney, Nordstrom Rack

• Electronics Stores – Best Buy, Fry’s Electronics, TigerDirect

• Fast Food – Chipotle, Panera Bread, Starbucks, and Cold Stone Creamery!

• Furniture Stores – American Furniture, Ethan Allen, IKEA

• Gyms – 24 Hour Fitness, Gold’s Gym, LA Fitness

• Movie Theaters – AMC Theatres, Fandango.com, Regal Cinemas

• Select Clothing Stores – Ann Taylor, Eddie Bauer, Old Navy

• Sporting Good Stores – Big 5 Sporting Goods, REI, Sports Authority

Just don’t forget to pick your categories!  Because if you don’t, you’ll only earn 1% cash back on all spending until next quarter!

Don’t Want the Hassle of Tracking Rotating Bonus Categories?

Some cards have terrific cash back bonuses all the time at stores where you can pick up a variety of items!

For example:

• Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express  – 6% cash back at US supermarkets; then 1% (on up to $6,000 in spending per year) and 3% cash back at US gas stations. Terms apply.
• SimplyCash Plus Business Card from American Express – 5% cash back at US office supply stores. Terms apply.

Or consider cards which offer bonus miles, points, or cash back on all spending, like:

• Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite Mastercard – 2X Arrival miles on everything, worth 2.1% back when redeemed for $100+ travel expenses
• Discover it® Miles – 1.5 miles per $1 you spend, matched at the end of the first year, for an effective 3% back on everything

Bottom Line

When you active the bonuses, you can earn extra points & cash back in categories such as restaurants and wholesale clubs with Chase Freedom.  And home improvement stores & Amazon with Discover it Cash Back.  Both are through September 30, 2016.

I especially like earning points for Big Travel on things I already plan on buying.  Because with my Freedom card, I can move the Chase Ultimate Rewards points I earn to my Chase Sapphire Preferred.  And then transfer those points to great travel partners like Hyatt and United Airlines.

Just remember you must activate the new bonus categories to earn the extra points or cash back!