Cashback cards with rotating bonus categories are a great way to easily earn points and
cashback, especially on things you would normally purchase in your daily life.
They do require a bit more work to remember the categories every quarter.
However, the rewards are worth the effort.
Hey, how’s it going everyone?
It’s Ernest from Trip Astute.
In this video, we’re covering the 2020 third quarter bonus categories for the Chase Freedom,
Discover It, US Bank Cash Plus, and Citi Dividend card, and sharing some free tools that you
can use to help you remember the new categories.
First off, I know this is a challenging and anxious time for many of you because of the
pandemic.
Our normal lives have been disrupted, and will likely to continue to be different until
things settle down.
I know a lot of you have been affected by the situation in a variety of ways.
Whether it’s your own health or those of your loved ones, your business, or even your
travel plans.
I encourage you all to stay safe.
And if you have questions or need advice on travel, we’re here to help out in any way
possible.
Since we are quickly approaching quarter three, I wanted to make sure to review our new rotating
bonus categories for some of our favorite cash back cards.
Also, as always, I’ve got some free tools on our website that you can use to help you
remember the new bonus categories.
For the Chase Freedom card, we’re ending the second quarter bonus categories of gym
memberships, fitness clubs, grocery stores, and streaming services.
Starting this quarter, you’ll earn 5% on Amazon.com and Whole Foods purchases.
I’m very excited about getting 5% of Amazon purchases.
With the pandemic, we’ve been purchasing a lot more online, especially on Amazon.
Also, since I had the Amazon bonus category on my Citi Dividend card this past quarter,
I found that I was still earning a bonus on Amazon Pay purchases on other sites.
For example, I purchased a baby bassinet and some other items outside of Amazon, but using
the Amazon Pay option.
These purchases all counted toward the bonus.
It’s possible that Chase might treat these purchases differently, so I’ll have to do
some testing to find out.
However, my guess is that they will earn the bonus.
The Whole Foods category should be useful for many of you as well.
Though keep in mind that Amazon offers multiple grocery services outside of Whole Foods, like
Amazon Fresh.
We’ve used both Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh the past few months, and they have been a
great way to get groceries delivered to our door.
The Chase Freedom remains one of my favorite cards.
I’ve had this card since 2012, and I consider it a workhorse in my wallet.
It might look like any other 5% rotating bonus card, but if you value Chase Ultimate Reward
points at more than one cent, as I do, you’ll be earning a lot of value with this card.
In fact, I would argue that I earn an adjusted rate of 7.5% with this card since I value
Chase UR points at 1.5 cents.
For more information on how I measure point values and adjusted earning rates, check out
our video on the topic.
For the Discover It card, we’re ending the second quarter with the bonus categories of
gas stations, Uber, Lyft, and wholesale clubs.
Starting this quarter, you’ll earn 5% on purchases from restaurants and when using
PayPal.
Like the Chase Freedom card, the bonus is valid for up to $1500 of qualified spending.
The promotional details for the restaurant category says that you’ll earn the bonus
for restaurants for pick-up and deliveries.
However, if you look at the fine print, it’s unclear whether it includes delivery services
that work with restaurants and cafes.
Discover says “Restaurant purchases include only those made at merchants classified as
full-service restaurants, cafes, cafeterias and fast food locations.”
To me, this implies that delivery services are excluded.
I also called Discover to ask about it, and got a very ambiguous answer on it.
So, for practical purposes, I would assume that third-party delivery services are excluded.
You’ll only earn the bonus for deliveries and pick-up orders if you are ordering directly
from the restaurant or cafe.
I do like the PayPal bonus category though.
In the past, I was surprised at how easy it was to maximize the bonus when paying different
online retailers.
Also, if you look at the fine print, it includes PayPal transfers to family and friends.
While you’ll pay around 3% to do a peer-to-peer transfer via PayPal, you’ll still come ahead
since you’re getting 5% back.
Also, for those of you that pay monthly or quarterly taxes like I do, you might consider
using your Chase Freedom to make the payments as well.
Like peer-to-peer transfers, you’ll pay a processing fee or percentage, but you should
come out ahead with the 5% bonus.
For example, as of this video, payUSAtax charges 1.98% for tax payments using PayPal, so you’ll
net the 3% difference with the cashback bonus.
The Discover It is a solid cash back card.
I’ve had mine since 2009.
While I use it regularly, I still prefer my Chase Freedom.
This is mostly due to the fact that I prefer to earn points over cash back.
With points, I’m generally able to redeem them for even more value.
Though depending on your credit card set-up and strategy, you might find more value in
earning cash back.
For the US Bank Cash Plus card, there are no new categories or changes this quarter.
The only thing that is new is the card has a new look and design.
If you’re not familiar with the card, US Bank allows you to pick your rotating 5% categories
every quarter and also has 2% categories where you can earn unlimited cashback.
They even let you earn the 5% bonus on up to $2000 of spend per quarter on the combined
selected bonus categories, which is even better than the Chase Freedom.
The card also includes some unique and rare bonus categories like home utilities.
In my opinion, it’s an underrated credit card and one that can help capture more bonuses
with your everyday spend.
Since I try to capture a bonus category on as much of my spending as possible, this card
helps me to get closer to that goal.
I got this card in 2018, and I’ve used it as a backup for spending categories that aren’t
covered by my Chase Freedom or Discover It card.
I typically select gyms and home utilities as my two 5% categories every quarter.
For this quarter, I’ll probably select home utilities and department stores.
Lastly, Citi Dividend users are ending the second quarter bonus category of drugstores
and Amazon.com, and for the third quarter of 2020, will be receiving 5% at home improvement
stores and on popular streaming services.
For hardware stores, just be aware that florist supply stores, nursery stock, and flower stores
are not eligible for the bonus.
However, lawn and garden stores and nurseries do qualify.
For streaming services, Citi defines “popular streaming services” as Amazon Prime Video,
CBS All Access, FuboTV, Netflix, Pandora, Showtime, Sling TV, Spotify, Starz, Vudu,
YouTube Premium, and YouTubeTV.
Unfortunately, Hulu, HBO, and Apple TV seem to be missing from the list.
Keep in mind that the Citi Dividend card has a yearly award bonus cap of $300 per calendar
year, which means that you’re not as restricted by a specific quarter’s bonus.
You can earn all of your annual bonus in one quarter.
You just need to track how much bonus you earn over the entire calendar year.
The Citi Dividend card is not available for new applicants.
It used to be available through a product change from another Citi card, but that no
longer seems to be the case since late 2019.
That may change in the future, but for now, there is no way to get the card.
As always, we’ve put together some free tools that you can download to help you remember
these categories.
We have our popular wallet-sized cheat sheet and our smartphone lock screens.
I’ve got a few variations of the lock screen too in case you only want information for
only one of the cards and not the others.
It takes me a while before the new categories get set in my brain.
So if you’re like me and need a little reminder, I’m hoping these tools come in handy.
Just head over to our website and click on Credit Cards, and then Free Credit Card Tools.
I’ll also include a link in the video description too.
As a reminder, make sure you log-in and activate the bonus for these cards.
While you can wait until September 14th to activate your Chase Freedom bonus category
since Chase will award the points retroactively, you’re better off doing it now before you
forget.
Unfortunately, Discover, US Bank, and Citi won’t award you a bonus until you activate
it, so do it now to avoid missing out.
And in case you’re interested in applying for any of these cards, I’ve included a
link to our Credit Card offers page.
Any sign-ups that go through our site or link helps to support the channel.
Since these cards do not have an annual fee, there are a great way to augment your current
set-up and earn additional cashback or points.
As of June 2020, the Chase Freedom and US Bank Cash Plus are offering a welcome offer
for new applications.
The Chase Freedom also had some new benefits recently added to the card, including a three
month complimentary membership to DashPass, which is DoorDash’s subscription service.
The card also earns 5% on Lyft rides.
And if you’re interested, Discover is offering a cashback match for an entire year, so it’s
fairly lucrative.
What do you all think of the new quarterly bonus categories?
Are you excited or disappointed by them?
Let me know in the comment section below.
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I hope you all are staying healthy and safe during these crazy times.
Until next time, travel safe and travel smart.