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Discover and Chase 5% Rotating Categories for 2024

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If you have the Discover It Cash Back and/or Chase Freedom Flex (or older Chase Freedom) then don’t forget to activate your quarterly categories in March, June, September, and December, before the next quarter begins. For Q1 categories (January 2024) you can activate both Chase and Discover cards as of today (December 15, 2023) or shortly afterwards.

Discover reveals their categories on the 1st of those months, whereas Chase allows activation on the 15th. So for example, if you want to activate Q4 categories for both cards at once, you’d have to wait until September 15th at the earliest.

Discover 2024:

  • Q1 Jan-March: Restaurants & Drug Stores
  • Q2 April-June: Gas, EV Charging, Home Improvement, Public Transit
  • Q3 July-Sept: TBD (probably groceries)
  • Q4 Oct-Dec: TBD (probably Amazon and retail/Target)

Chase 2024:

  • Q1 Jan-March: Grocery Stores, Gym & Fitness, Spa Services & Self-Care
  • Q2 April-June: Restaurants, Hotels, Amazon.com
  • Q3 July-Sept: TBD (probably gas and entertainment)
  • Q4 Oct-Dec: TBD (probably Paypal and retail/Walmart)

Chase’s Q1 2024 is broadly useful. Everyone uses grocery stores and most people should have a gym membership. Many people also buy gift cards at grocery stores to increase their effective cash back rates for non-grocery purchases. Discover’s Q1 is not quite as useful, especially when the Chase Freedom Flex already gets 3x points at restaurants and drug stores.

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Discover and Chase 5% Rotating Categories for 2023

News /

If you have the Discover It Cash Back or Chase Freedom Flex (or Chase Freedom) then don’t forget to activate your quarterly categories in March, June, September, and December, before the next quarter begins.

Discover makes their categories available on the 1st of those months, whereas Chase allows activation on the 15th. So for example, if you want to activate Q4 categories for both cards at once, you’d have to wait until September 15th at the earliest.

Discover 2023:

  • Q1 Jan-March: Grocery Stores, Drug Stores, Select Streaming
  • Q2 April-June: Restaurants and Wholesale Clubs (including gift cards for Costco/Sam’s/etc.)
  • Q3 July-Sept: Gas Stations and Digital Wallets
  • Q4 Oct-Dec: Amazon and Target

Chase 2023:

  • Q1 Jan-March: Grocery Stores, Target, Gym & Fitness
  • Q2 April-June: Amazon and Lowe’s
  • Q3 July-Sept: Gas Stations, Electric Vehicle Charging, and “Select Live Entertainment”
  • Q4 Oct-Dec: Paypal, Wholesale Clubs, and “Select Charities”

Chase defines “Live Entertainment” as including: amusement/theme parks, professional sporting events, ticketing agencies, aquariums, museums, theatrical productions, zoos, and more.

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Discover Releases 2022 Categories For 5% Cash Back

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Discover released their cash back calendar for 2022. Anyone who has the Discover It Cash Back can get 5% cash back on the following categories, up to $1,500 spent each quarter ($6,000 annual limit). You do have to “activate” the bonus earnings ahead of time but it’s a simple process. Only takes a couple seconds, four times per year.

Q1 (January, February, March)

  • Grocery Stores
  • Fitness Clubs
  • Gym Memberships

Alternative cards: Click here for our list of the best grocery credit cards. For fitness clubs and gym memberships, the next best card could be the Venmo Visa. Cash back earnings may depend on where you go, since Venmo won’t classify all gyms as eligible for 3% cash back. The best option is to use Discover It to buy an annual gym membership. Depending on where you live, that’s probably $300-500 toward the $1,500 quarterly spending limit. This is a valuable category since zero cards give 5+% cash back at clubs/gyms, and everyone should have a gym membership of some kind.

Q2 (April, May, June)

  • Gas Stations
  • Target

Alternative cards: Click here for our list of the best gas credit cards. At Target, people with the Target Red Card already get 5% off, although Discover can be slightly better.

Q3 (July, August, September)

  • Restaurants and Dining
  • PayPal

Alternative cards: Click here for our list of the best restaurant credit cards. For Paypal, any everyday card is the next best thing. There aren’t any cards which earn 5% back at Paypal year-round.

Q4 (October, November, December)

  • Amazon.com
  • Digital Wallets

Alternative cards: If you have Amazon Prime, the Chase Amazon card gives 5% cash back at Amazon. There are a few options overall for Amazon spend. Then for digital wallet purchases, the closest alternative is the Kroger Mastercard or U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve.

 

Categories in recent years

2019 & 2020
Q1 Jan-March: Grocery stores
Q2 April-June: Gas stations, Uber/Lyft
Q3 July-Sept: Restaurants, Paypal
Q4 Oct-Dec: Amazon.com, Walmart.com, Target.com

2021
Q1 Jan-March: Grocery stores, Walgreens, CVS
Q2 April-June: Gas stations, Wholesale Clubs, Streaming Services
Q3 July-Sept: Restaurants, Paypal
Q4 Oct-Dec: Amazon.com, Walmart.com, Target.com

New Features And Bonuses For Chase Southwest Credit Cards

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Chase Southwest credit cards received a bunch of positive changes, including increases to the sign-up bonus and referral bonuses. All 3 personal cards now have the same welcome bonus: “Earn 50,000 points after you spend $2,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Earn an additional 50,000 points after you spend $12,000 on purchases in the first 12 months from account opening” Offer expires 12/1/2021. At this time, 100k points is the highest-ever bonus for Southwest credit cards.

Link to Press Release

Chase has a handy comparison chart to check all the details of each card. Note that all of the options have an annual fee (not waived the first year). And as always, Chase’s 5/24 rule applies.

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