The highest cash back percentage you’ll find anywhere is five percent on select categories that change every three months. There are three major credit cards that offer 5% cash back: the Discover it Card, the Chase Freedom® Visa, and the Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® Visa®. These rotating categories are one of the reasons each of these cards made our list of the best cash back credit cards.
But there is a catch. You need to sign up for the 5% categories each quarter in order to be eligible for the increased payout. It only takes a few seconds to sign up online, but you don’t want to forget. With the start of a new quarter upon us, here are the current categories for July, August and September:
Discover it 5% Categories
You can get five percent back on up to $1,500 in purchases at home improvement stores from April 1 through June 30, 2013.
For more details, check out the Discover it website.
Chase Freedom 5% Categories
From April 1 to June 30, 2013, Chase offers the bonus cash back on up to $1,500 spent on the following categories:
- Restaurants
- Movie theaters
- Lowe’s®
As with the Discover card, you can earn this increased bonus on up to $1,500 in purchases.
Citi Dividend Platinum Select 5% Categories
Citi’s offer is unique in that the increased cash back applies in part to specific retailers, not just categories:
- $100 cash back after $500 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening
- 0% Intro APR on Balance Transfers and Purchases for 12 months. After that, the APR will be 12.99%-22.99% variable based on your creditworthiness*
- Earn 5% cash back from Citi at Home Depot, Home furnishing stores and home and garden stores between 4/1/13 and 6/30/13, with enrollment
- Enroll at no additional cost each quarter for new categories that earn additional cash back
- Full 1% cash back on all other purchases and eligible cash advances
- No annual fee*
This is a great offer for back-to-school shopping. And remember that you can earn up to $300 cash back per year on these rotating categories. For more details, check out the Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® Visa® Card website.
* See the online credit card application for details about terms and conditions. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. However all credit card information is presented without warranty. When you click on the “Apply Now” button, you can review the credit card terms and conditions on the issuer’s website. Discover is a paid advertiser of this site.
Rob Berger
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Published or updated May 9, 2013.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Now we’ll just have to see if Online Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Gap Outlet and Banana Republic Factory Store count!
Good question. I assume the factory store does count, but haven’t actually tried it with a 5% card.