Earn 5-10% in Rewards with Rotating Category Cards

  Credit Card Reference

Make sure to read the tips and general advice in our Optimize Rewards by Using Different Cards for Different Purchases guide. TravelStrategies:*Rotating Category Credit Cards/Box Rather than offering bonus rewards on a fixed set of categories, "rotating category cards" change their bonus categories every three months.

People who want to absolutely maximize their rewards or love the “thrill” of getting the highest possible reward rates, should make "rotating category cards" part of their credit card arsenal. For people who want to keep things simple, stick to a great general purpose reward card or a small set of cards that earn bonus rewards in specific categories.

For example, here’s the Chase Freedom calendar for 2019:

And the 2020 Discover categories:

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• These cards aren’t for everyone
• Available cards
• Tips

These cards aren’t for everyone

Many points and rewards “hobbyists” love cards with rotating category bonuses, because it feels so good to earn 5 - 10% in rewards just by using the right credit card. The 10% category bonus you can earn the first year with the Discover cards is the highest reward earnings rate available for any purchase with any credit card—and that’s saying something; and the 5x Ultimate Rewards points you can earn from the Chase Freedom Card is not that far behind.

However, we are a little less enamored of these cards:

• The rewards you can earn with these cards are capped. With 5% cashback, even if you can spend the maximum of $1,500 per quarter, you’ll only earn about an extra $150 per year (above and beyond what you'd get from using a good general purpose reward card). However, the 8.5% in value back from the Freedom Card can generate up to a more respectable $360 in extra rewards per year.
• Unless you expend some effort, it can be hard to reach these theoretical maximums. During any given quarter, it might be hard to take full advantage of the available category(s). You may not naturally have an opportunity to spend $1,500 in the category or you may already be earning good bonus rewards in that category from another card. So, your real earning rate will be lower.
• In return for these extra rewards, you need to deal with the extra complexity of remembering to use these cards for a shifting set of categories, registering for each quarter’s promotion, and trying to maximize your category spend (but not waste points by spending over the quarterly maximums). By contrast, collecting one additional signup bonus will provide a lot more value with a lot less effort.

Nevertheless, these cards do allow you to increase the number of rewards you earn each year, especially if you can accumulate multiple copies or each card.

Available rotating category cards

We recommend starting with the Chase Freedom Flex Card, if you can get it (you haven’t gotten more than 5 new credit cards in the past 2 years); and the Discover Card, if you can’t. If you know that you can generate enough spend and don’t mind the hassle of using these cards, you could always get both. You may even be able to get multiple cards of each type.

Freedom Flex Card Guide	Chase Freedom Flex Card.  Earns 5x Ultimate Rewards on a rotating set of categories. If you have a Chase Sapphire or Ink Preferred Card, you can transfer these points to airline or hotel programs, providing a value of about 8.5 cents per dollar. No annual fee. You can eventually get multiple copies of this card by converting other Chase Ultimate Rewards cards.
Discover it Card Guide	Discover It Card.  Earns 5% cashback on a rotating set of categories. But you’ll earn double the rewards during the first year.  Discover cards aren’t accepted at every business, but that isn't very important for most of the merchants in most of its bonus categories.  No annual fee.
Nusenda Reward Card Guide	Nusenda Credit Union Platinum Rewards Card. Earns 5% on up to $1,500 per quarter just like the Discover It Card, but without the first-year bonus. No annual fee.
ABOC Platinum Rewards Card Webpage	The ABOC Platinum Rewards Card. Earns 5x points on up to $1,500 per quarter. Points are worth 1 cent when redeemed for travel or a bit less when redeemed through other mechanisms. No annual fee and a $150 signup bonus ($1,200 initial spend). Tips for maximizing rotating category cards To earn the maximum rewards from these rotating-category cards, you need to spend close to the full $1,500 each quarter. Time your purchases for upcoming bonus categories. Each card’s categories are announced ahead of time, so you can often postpone a purchase until a category becomes active or purchase something ahead-of-time while a category is still active. Switch to another credit card once you’ve hit the quarterly maximum. Once you hit the $1,500 maximum each quarter, your earning rate on these cards drops to 1% (or 1 Ultimate Rewards point). You’ll do better shifting your category spending to a different card. When you can, take advantage of the categories where you don’t already receive bonuses from one of your other cards. Let’s say it was the 2nd quarter of 2019, and you can receive Freedom Card bonuses on grocery and home improvement stores. If you already have a card that offers 6% on groceries, you are better off using as much of your quarterly spend as you can at home improvement stores. Max out the categories with gift cards. Many of the merchants in supported categories sell gift cards, which will count as a purchase within the bonus category. You can buy these gift cards to max out your quarterly bonus and then use them for purchases at other merchants. This lets you shift the extra-high bonus rewards you can get from these cards to different categories or different times of the year. For example, you could earn bonus rewards at home improvement stores for gift cards that you will later use at Amazon.com or for a gift card from the same store that you can use during a different quarter. Maximize Your Category Bonuses using Gift Cards. You need to register for the new categories every quarter. With most cards, you won't start earning 5x rewards until after you've registered. Set an appointment to remind yourself every three months. With the Chase Freedom card, as long as you register before the end of the quarter, you'll earn points even for purchases you made before you registered. Credit Cards 101 Maximize Your Category Bonuses using Gift Cards Optimize Rewards by Using Different Cards for Different Purchases TravelStrategies:*Rotating Category Credit Cards/Page