Another quarter is almost over, so the time is right to plan ahead for your Q3 5% cashback bonus promotions for your various credit cards. If you are a Chase Freedom cardholder, check your account online or your email inbox or the Chase app or ChasePAY mobile wallet. You can now activate the Q3 offers!

There is a versatile trio of categories that can earn a 5% bonus up to $1500 in purchases between July 1st and September 30 in 2018. With gas prices going up, that extra 5% from gas stations is a nice silver lining. With stress increasing, that 5% from Walgreens can help too. Or if you don’t want to drive or need select lifts to different places, and you are not a fan of Uber, fear not. Lyft is also participating in the 5% promotions of Q3 of 2018.

As usual, the $1500 limit is per credit card, not per account holder, so if you have more than one Chase Freedom credit card, plan ahead so you can split your purchase between them to maximize your bonus cashback.

Every penny counts 🙂

If you have a Chase Freedom credit card that has the 5% quarterly promotions, don’t forget to activate the second quarter of offers because it’s a good one! The second quarter runs from April 1st until June 30 in 2018 and the 5% categories are Grocery stores (excludes Walmart and Tarjay and warehouse clubs) and also 5% PayPal and ChasePay (accepted at Starbucks and Best Buy). So load up your Starbucks gift card in-store using ChasePAY and get 5%)!

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UPDATE: here is the Complete List of participating merchants AND exclusions from Chase itself!

ORIGINAL POST
Everybody loves eating, well, at least has to eat, so if you have a Chase credit card that is participating in the 5% Cashback Bonus rewards, make sure you activate the 3rd Quarter promotion, running between July 1st until September 30 in 2017. You earn 5% back in cashback in Restaurants and Movie Theaters!

As usual, there is a maximum of $1500 spending per credit card. Meaning the first $1500 during the quarter you spend in Restaurant and Movies will earn 5% cashback. Any purchases over $1500 during the quarter will earn the standard 1% cashback instead.

The good thing though is that the $1500 limit is per credit card, not per person. So if you have two or more of these credit cards, you can max out at $1500 per credit card.

The other nice thing with Chase is that you can retroactively activate it later in the quarter, so even if you forget to pre-activate, you won’t miss out on the earnings. But there is a cut-off point, you can’t activate it when it gets close to expiration. The activation page (when logged on to your Chase account) or the email prompting you to activate will have the exact dates and details…

Don’t you dare miss the second quarter 5% Chase Freedom cashback rewards bonus offers! They offer two very popular categories that almost every person spends money on! Grocery stores and Drugstores! You get 5% on up to $1500 spending on those two categories between April 1st and June 30 in 2017!

The $1500 total is on both categories, not each category. However, if you have multiple Chase Freedom credit cards (Chase has been buying other small credit card companies left and merging them into their own), the amount is $1500 per card for the quarter.

As you can see from their promotion, a lot of popular stores are participating in this promotion, both on the grocery and the drugstore front!

October 2016 is here, and this means a new round of 5% cashback categories from some of the biggest credit card companies. We start the Q4 round-up with the Chase Freedom / Ultimate Rewards program. Their 5% categories for the period covering October 1st until December 31st in 2016 are:

Yes, this is another holiday shopping season tinged selection, with a variety of Department stores but also Warehouse Clubs joining the party. That includes Costco who is no longer an AMEX-only shop. Warehouse Clubs were also a 5% category in the third quarter, so continue the Sam’s Club and BJ’s and Costco shopping sprees 🙂

Last but not least are the Drugstores, another place of frequent purchases. With all these categories, it’s not hard to reach the quarterly limit of $1500, so plan your purchases according to the various credit card rewards to max out the benefits. Remember the $1500 limit is per credit card, not per person, so if you have two Chase Freedoms, it’s $1500 per card.

The other nice thing Chase does is that you can retroactive earn rewards going back to October 1st even if you active now. There is a deadline before the end of the quarter to activate, but it is very generous. I always pre-activate before the new quarter begins, so I haven’t tested this yet. But they mention it prominently in their FAQs and such.

Here’s the big picture of their 2016 quarterly categories, but keep in mind, there’s no guarantee the exact same line-up will appear in 2017. There’s typically some overlap, but they move things around as well.

The benefit reduction trend continues with credit card reward redemptions. It is now Chase’s term to do this, for Ultimate Rewards credit cards. I do not know if this applies to ALL or SOME Freedom credit cards. Starting September 1st, if you want to use your accumulated Chase Rewards to pay directly for Amazon purchases, you will no longer enjoy the favorable 1:1 (1 point = 1 penny) exchange rate.

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The third quarter of 2016 is looking to be another hot one for Chase Freedom Rewards member. Their 5% cashback categories, with the usual $1500 purchase cap, are Restaurants and Wholesale Clubs which includes Costco, Sam’s Club and BJ’s. As usual, restaurants include a variety, from fast food to fancy restaurants, and in previous iteration, this also included some semi-restaurants, like Starbucks.

You can begin earning these 5% rewards between July 1st and September 30 in 2016. You can activate the promotion now, but the earnings in these categories begin July 1st.

Strategically this works great, because for the second quarter (ending June 30, 2016), you are earning 5% at Restaurants with Discover and Grocery Stores and Wholesale clubs with Chase. In other words, the Wholesale club promotion continues this quarter as well.

NOTE that for WholeSale Clubs, certain purchases (gas/fuel and specialty services) are NOT eligible. If not sure, contact Chase or do a trial-and-error thing by doing the math on your statement.

If you have multiple Chase Freedom credit card, each one has a limit of $1500 in purchases. In other words, the maximum reward you will earn from this promotion during a calendar quarter is $75 (5% of $1500). Any orders above $1500 in those categories will simply earn the usual 1% cashback. So if you have multiple cards, strategically split your orders between them if you are anywhere near the quarterly limits.

UPDATE: Chase has a list of eligible Restaurants, of interest if you are wondering whether your favorite chain stores are eligible. Independent and individual restaurants are NOT listed there but they are eligible.

The second quarter of 2016 (April 1st until June 30) is a very quarter to be a Chase Freedom credit card holder. Their 5% Cashback Promotion is Grocery Stores and Wholesale Clubs. The usual limit of $1500 per credit card applies. If you spend more than $1500 in these two categories per individual card, you will earn the usual 1% for amounts over $1500. You still get 5% for the first $1500 per card.

There are some restrictions as usual. The grocery stores do not include Walmart or Target. The wholesale clubs do not include services or travel or insurance and such. Check the FAQ on the Chase website for all the restrictions. If you are not certain about a specific store, don’t be shy, contact their customer service! Better to know than not to 🙂

One nice thing Chase does with their quarterly rewards is that it allows you retroactive activation. For this quarter, you have until June 14 2016 to activate. All purchases from April 1st on-wards will earn the rewards even if you activate in June. But it’s better to activate now, because you will get the rewards faster 🙂

TIP: If you don’t regularly spend $1500+ in those categories, there’s another way to make the most of this offer, gift cards from grocery stores. You buy gift cards for some of the places you regularly shop at, effectively getting a 5% discount. Make sure you don’t overbuy, and avoid any companies that may be on the brink of extinction 🙂

It’s September 15, and this means, among many other things, you can now activate your 5% Chase Ultimate Rewards categories for the fourth quarter of 2015 (October 1st until December 31st). As usual, the quarterly limit is $1500 in eligible purchases. After that, you earn the standard reward amount (1% in most cases).

You can easily activate them when you login to your Chase account, in the summary page, there is an “Activate Now” button in the “5% Cash Back status” line for every eligible card in your account. You have to do this for each card. The 4th quarter is very Amazon-centric as it features purchases at Amazon, Zappos, Diapers and Audible, all original or purchased Amazon companies.

Strategy vs the Discover Q4 5%
Speaking of rewards, don’t forget to also activate your Discover Q4 rewards which also include Amazon, along with various department stores and clothing stores.

Strategically, depending on your purchases, you may want to use Discover for the department/clothing stores and shift the Amazon purchases to the Chase card. That’s if you are going to get close to the $1500 limits (for the 5% rewards).