Quarterly Spending Categories Archives

We’re into April, which means that we have new Q2 5x Opportunities, courtesy of Chase, Discover and Citi. So consider this a reminder to get out there and maximize your points and cashback.

Q2 5x Opportunities – Chase Freedom

Chase Freedom’s Second Quarter 5x is for Grocery and Drug Stores! Only a few years ago, this would elicit giggles of glee! But fear not. There have been some amazing deals lately. Just look at this deal that Doctor of Credit shared, in which FQF decreed that you must use “Washtubs, not teaspoons.” While this deal has ended, history suggests that similar deals will come in the future.

Q2 5x Opportunities

Q2 5x Opportunities – Discover

Wholesale Clubs and Home Improvement. Spring is here! For homeowners, this is a great opportunity. For folks who frequent Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale club, this is for you! For resellers; remember that Sams Club and BJ’s both sell a variety of gift cards, so if you can’t find products for resale, you could at least maximize your 5x by getting gift cards for stores that you can find products for resale.

Maximize your Q1 5x

Q2 5x Opportunities – Citi Dividend

Citi Dividend gives us similar pleasure as Chase Freedom gives us, with drugstores. I’m not really sure how fitness clubs fit into the mix. Logically, that seems more like a first quarter thing, but maybe Citi is trying to remind us that we only have a couple months before we’ll want to look good in a swimsuit. As I think about it, maybe I do need to get to the gym a bit more…. All that aside, drugstores are great for gift cards. So, if your gym doesn’t give you $1500 worth of spend–and I hope it doesn’t!–then the drugstore is your option. Hopefully you don’t have some crazy, never ending cold, and instead can leverage some Vanilla Visa’s!

Maximize your Q1 5x

Conclusion

As we enter a new quarter, it avails us the opportunity to make a plan to maximize rotating category bonus rewards. Historically, second quarter is a pretty good quarter for maximizing, though I see a whole lot less of home improvement stores than in past years.

What is your plan to maximize all of your 5x? How do you plan to do it, manufactured spending? Reselling? Organic Spend?

This year we had a number of great quarterly bonuses for credit card spend.

Discover Quarterly Department Store, Amazon, or Clothing stores, and Apply Pay

For starters, we had the Discover Apple Pay promotion, where you get a 10% bonus when you pay with your Discover via Apple Pay. This can be even better if you have the Discover Double Cashback promotion. Note, the 10% bonus is only up to $10,000 spend between early September and the end of the year, per Discover card. Despite all of my spending this year, I’m probably just about $5k short of maximizing for my wife and myself. I did get the chance to double dip some though for the 5% quarterly bonus up to $1500.

Chase Freedom Special Nov 24 to 31 December – Amazon, Zappos, Audible, and Diapers.com

This was a special enticement from Chase, having previously stated that the “normal” Forth Quarter would be 5x Ultimate Rewards (UR) points up to $1,500 spend. Well, then they said, make that spend by 23 November, adding that from 24 November to 31 December, you can get 10x UR points up to $1,500 spend. Wow. That’s pretty big. I know I’m still working off my 3 Freedoms, at this point, I’m buying lots of gift cards. Lots and lots of gift cards. shameless plus, if you don’t have an amazon link, please consider using mine, you can find it at Support Tagging Miles, we sincerely appreciate the consideration.

Citi Dividend Quarterly Best Buy and Department Stores

If you haven’t made your $300 cashback for the year yet, well, you could finish that. If you already have, you could try what the Devil’s advocate recommends, as far as leveraging Best Buy and Department stores to maximize your 2016 cashback.

Wrapping Up

I’m sure there are more out there. I know I’ve been trying to get smart on the Bank of America cards for example. But the fact remains, it never hurts to maximize, if you have the flexibility to, especially when you can get as many as 15,000 Ultimate Rewards Points per Chase Freedom, $300 per Citi Dividend, and a bunch with the combined Discover bonuses.

One last thing, if you happened to get the targeted Barclay Aviator spend $500 in October, November, and December, and have gotten October and November, then don’t forget to make the $500 in spend in December!

Welcome to April! Q2 5x Opportunities