Difference between revisions of "Quarterly bonus categories"

Revision as of 02:32, 2 July 2021

Easily Earn Points for Free Travel, Boost your rewards with "Pick Your Own Category", "Rotating Category", and Gift Cards

Q3 2021 is underway. Make sure to activate for this quarter's categories. More details about the quarter's categories are available on the activation pages.

For information and tips about using these cards to optimize the rewards you earn on your spending, make sure to look at our Advanced Bonus Category Optimization guide.

Freedom Flex Card Guide	Grocery Stores and Select Streaming Services. Grocery stores usually sell a wide variety of gift cards you can use at other merchants, making it easy to get full value this quarter. You'll get credit for charges made before you register, but there is no reason to hold off. Activation Webpage.
Discover it Card Guide	Restaurants and PayPal. The good news is that PayPal can be used all over the internet. You should also get credit for purchases made with your Discover Card through PayPal Key. You'll only earn bonus rewards on purchases that are made after you activate each quarter. Activation Webpage Discover has already announced their complete 2021 schedule: Oct - Dec: Amazon, Target.com, and Walmart.com.
Citi Dividend Guide	Home Improvement and Gas. If you won't be naturally spending enough in these categories, you should be able to purchase gift cards at these locations, especially at Home Improvement stores. If you have a nearby Lowe's, link your Dividend Card to the Jet Blue Shopping site to earn extra points on all your Lowe's purchases. You'll only earn bonus rewards on purchases that are made two or more days after you activate. Activation Webpage.
Nusenda Reward Card Guide	Gas and Education. Gas is a tough category, there is a good chance you are already earning good bonus rewards and most gas stations aren't a good source for gift cards. If you have education expenses, it is usually easy to max out this quarter, but if you don't, it is hard to take advantage of this category. Nusenda has had the same schedule every year: Oct - Dec: Restaurants, Hotels, Airfare. Apr - Jun: Movies Restaurants, Home Improvements.
ABOC Platinum Rewards Card Webpage	Travel. This isn't a great category, because you are likely to already be earning good bonus rewards. On the other hand, it is usually easy to hit a quarter's limits, especially if you have the opportunity to prepay some refundable reservations. Once you set up your card, you are automatically enrolled for every quarter's bonus categories. Category Details ABOC has already released their complete 2021 schedule: Oct - Dec: Groceries, Food Delivery Services, Liquor Stores, Amazon.com.

Activating the U.S. Bank Cash+ Card

Unlike the other "pick your own category" cards, you need to re-activate the categories on the Cash+ card every quarter. Any spending made that quarter before activation won't earn bonus rewards. Activation Webpage.

Credit Cards 101

Credit Cards that Offer Bonus Rewards on Less Common Categories

Optimize Rewards by Using Different Cards for Different Purchases

Send comments or suggestions to editor@travelstrategies.com or leave a comment below.

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 {{Page|article|Earn Points|advanced optimization}}
-Q2 2021 is underway. Make sure to activate for this quarter's categories. More details about the quarter's categories are available on the activation pages.
+Q3 2021 is underway. Make sure to activate for this quarter's categories. More details about the quarter's categories are available on the activation pages.
 For information and tips about using these cards to optimize the rewards you earn on your spending, make sure to look at our {{Link|advanced optimization|Advanced Bonus Category Optimization guide}}.
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 {{List|card}}
 {{CardItem|Freedom}}
-'''Gas stations and home improvement stores'''.  That's great for people who have large home improvement projects planned or need to replace an appliance. Lowes, Home Depot, and many Gas Stations also sell gift cards that you can use at other merchants, such as Amazon.
+'''Grocery Stores and Select Streaming Services'''.  Grocery stores usually sell a wide variety of gift cards you can use at other merchants, making it easy to get full value this quarter.
-You can activate retroactively until mid-June. [//www.chasebonus.com Activation Webpage].
+You'll get credit for charges made before you register, but there is no reason to hold off. [//www.chasebonus.com Activation Webpage].
-Chase's Q3 categories are Grocery stores and Select Streaming Services.
 {{CardItem|Discover}}
-'''Gas stations, wholesale clubs, and select streaming services'''. Gas stations and wholesale clubs often have gift cards available.
+'''Restaurants and PayPal'''. The good news is that PayPal can be used all over the internet. You should also get credit for purchases made with your Discover Card through PayPal Key.
 You'll only earn bonus rewards on purchases that are made after you activate each quarter. [//www.discover.com/credit-cards/cashback-bonus/cashback-calendar.html Activation Webpage]
-Discover has already announced their complete 2021 schedule: '''Jul - Sep''': Restaurants and PayPal. '''Oct - Dec''': Amazon, Target.com, and Walmart.com.
+Discover has already announced their complete 2021 schedule: '''Oct - Dec''': Amazon, Target.com, and Walmart.com.
 {{CardItem|dividend}}
-'''Supermarkets and Drugstores'''. These are two of the easiest to use categories. Whatever you don't spend naturally, you can make up with card purchases.
+'''Home Improvement and Gas'''. If you won't be naturally spending enough in these categories, you should be able to purchase gift cards at these locations, especially at Home Improvement stores. If you have a nearby Lowe's, link your Dividend Card to the Jet Blue Shopping site to earn extra points on all your Lowe's purchases.
 You'll only earn bonus rewards on purchases that are made two or more days after you activate. [//www.citi.com/credit-cards/credit-cards-citi/citi.action?ID=dividend-quarterly-offer Activation Webpage].
-Citi's Q3 Categories are Home Improvement and Gas.
 {{CardItem|nusenda}}
-'''Movies, Restaurants, Home Improvements'''. Restaurants are an easy category, but  there is a good chance that you are already have other cards that earn good bonus rewards for this category. See the notes about Home Improvement above. It's nice to earn bonus rewards for movies, but it won't add up to much.
+'''Gas and Education'''. Gas is a tough category, there is a good chance you are already earning good bonus rewards and most gas stations aren't a good source for gift cards. If you have education expenses, it is usually easy to max out this quarter, but if you don't, it is hard to take advantage of this category.
-Nusenda has had the same schedule every year: '''Jul - Sep''': Gas, Education. '''Oct - Dec''': Restaurants, Hotels, Airfare'''.
+Nusenda has had the same schedule every year: '''Oct - Dec''': Restaurants, Hotels, Airfare'''.  '''Apr - Jun''': Movies Restaurants, Home Improvements'''.
 {{CardItem|aboc}}
-'''Home Improvement, Gardening, Amazon.com and major Online Retailers'''.  These are easy categories.
+'''Travel'''.  This isn't a great category, because you are likely to already be earning good bonus rewards. On the other hand, it is usually easy to hit a quarter's limits, especially if you have the opportunity to prepay some refundable reservations.
 Once you set up your card, you are automatically enrolled for every quarter's bonus categories. [//www.platinumrewardsnow.com/Rewards_Calendar Category Details]
-ABOC has already released their complete 2021 schedule: '''Jul - Sep''': Travel. '''Oct - Dec''': Groceries, Food Delivery Services, Liquor Stores, Amazon.com.
+ABOC has already released their complete 2021 schedule: '''Oct - Dec''': Groceries, Food Delivery Services, Liquor Stores, Amazon.com.
 {{/List|card}}