With many credit cards in your wallet, keeping track of the best earning rates for each category is vital. 5% is usually as good as it gets. There’s several credit cards out there that offer 5% on quarterly rotating categories.
Now that the second quarter of 2019 is almost upon us, here’s a helpful list that will let you know where to maximize rewards from these six credit cards:
- Chase Freedom (5X Ultimate Rewards points on $1,500 per quarter) – Link to activation – Read more here.
- Discover it (5% cashback on $1,500 per quarter) – Link to activation
- ABOC Platinum Rewards (5x points on $1,500 per quarter) – Read more here
- Citi Dividend (5% on up to $6,000 spend for the whole year, on rotating quarterly categories) – Link to activation
- US Bank Cash+ (5% cashback on $2,000 per quarter) – Link to activation
- Vantage West Card (5% on $1,500 per quarter)
5% Calendar for Q3-2019
- Chase Freedom
- Gas Stations
- Streaming Services (Apple Music, Hulu, Netflix, Pandora, SiriusXM, Sling, Spotify, and Vudu)
- Discover it
- PayPal
- Restaurants
- ABOC Platinum
- Travel (airlines, hotels, cruises, car rentals, travel agencies)
- Citi Dividend
- Airlines
- Car Rentals
- US Bank Cash Plus Card lets you choose 2 of the following categories:
- 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
- Vantage West Visa Card lets you choose 1 of the following 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
Maximizing Cashback for Q3
With Chase Freedom, gas stations are the first choice of using up the $1,500 in spend. Many of them carry gift cards plus lots of people use gas, so it won’t be that difficult to maximize. You can also use it for your streaming services if you don’t mind switching the form of payments in all those accounts.
The Discover card has PayPal as a 5% option this quarter. That means that every time you use your Discover card through PayPal, you get 5% cashback. Maybe 10% if this is your first year of card membership. That’s probably the main play with it this quarter, but there’s also restaurants for those who have lots of spend in those categories.
The ABOC Platinum this quarter includes travel purchases. It includes airlines, hotels, cruises, car rentals, travel agencies, so should come in handy if you don’t have other cards that earn a good rate on travel. Similar categories for Citi Dividend, but more limited, with airlines and car rentals.
Then we have the US Bank Cash+ card and Vantage West Visa Card that let you choose two and one category respectively from a list of options. This gives you flexibility to choose a category that works best for you.
Guru’s Wrap-up
This quarter you have categories such as PayPal, gas stations, restaurants and travel. Not the best three months for these 5% credit cards, but there should still be opportunities to maximize your spending.
