466SHH

Today I logged into my Chase account and clicked the button to see the progress bar on the 3rd quarter spend. Found the following information on the Calendar when I scrolled down - It no longer says "holiday spending." I assume this will be old news tomorrow, but for those of us who can't wait:

5% cash back calendar
Activate each quarter to earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in that quarter's bonus categories. See FAQs
2016
January-March
Gas Stations
Local Commuter Transportation*
2016
April-June
Grocery Stores**
(not including Walmart & Target purchases)
Wholesale Clubs***
Such as BJ's® and Sam's club®
2016
July-September
Restaurants
Wholesale Clubs***
Such as Costco®, BJ's®, and Sam's club®
2016
October-December
Department Stores*****
Drug Stores******
Wholesale Clubs****
Such as Costco®, BJ's®, and Sam's club®
Remember to activate your bonus categories each quarter - additional merchants and categories will be announced at the beginning of each activation period.
*Includes taxis, subways, local commuter buses and trains; does not include parking, tolls, and Amtrak purchases.
**Does not include purchases made at Walmart® and Target®. You still earn unlimited 1% cash back on these purchases.
***Does not include gas, fuel, wholesale club specialty service purchase such as travel, insurance, cell phone and home improvement. Check with your local wholesale clubs to see if your Chase Freedom card is accepted. The listed merchant(s) are not sponsors or co-sponsors of this program. All marks are the property of their respective owner(s).
*****The Department Store category does not include supercenters, discount stores or specialty stores (i.e. stores that sell primarily one line of products such as shoe stores, pet stores, electronics stores, clothing stores); if a merchant is not on the list, you will not earn bonus rewards. Department Store gift card purchases outside of the specific Department Store are excluded and will not earn bonus rewards. Please review the list of merchants for merchants included and merchants not included in the Department Store category. For more information, please see Chase Freedom Frequently Asked Questions.
******Does not include merchants that sell a wide variety of goods including prescription drugs and over-the-counter medicines, supplements and various health-related items, and which may contain an onsite pharmacy, for example, warehouse clubs, discount stores, or grocery stores. For more information, please see Chase Freedom Frequently Asked Questions.
****Does not include gas, fuel, wholesale club specialty service purchase such as travel, insurance, cell phone and home improvement. Check with your local wholesale clubs to see if your Chase Freedom card is accepted. For more information, please see Chase Freedom Frequently Asked Questions.

roundtree

I certainly see the same, though the regular calendar hasn't been updated yet:

https://creditcards.chase.com/freedom/calendar

I was really hoping Amazon would be in the mix again.

britishcanuck

Drug stores! I have some expensive drugs I need to buy at my local CVS that I'm sure will help max this out.

steve4

Gotta stock up on some cough and cold medicine.

Lakee911

Buy em out right and submit to insurance for reimbursement.

User Name

Yes, something very similar to that.

Critterlynn

Sounds like more trouble than it's worth.

Duke787

Disappointed not to see Amazon but we've got a Sam's Club near us that works - might be getting everyone bulk size laundry detergent for Christmas this year

der_saeufer

Wow, talk about useless, especially considering the warehouse clubs bonus isn't new. Do people still shop in department stores?

Maybe I should've downgraded CSP to FU instead.

roundtree

The full list of qualified stores now appears online. Certainly disappointing.

https://creditcards.chase.com/freedom/merchants

The only hopeful bit that I can see is this:

So, at least we can stay home and shop in our underwear for 5%.

mikex163

No Amazon
Don't care about drug stores. With discounts on ebay + ebay bucks I get at least 10x all the time (sometimes around 18%), so even considering the value of UR, 5 UR points per dollar not exactly enticing.

cestmoi123

Don't mind the lack of Amazon that much - when the Citi Forward 5x disappeared, I got the Amazon charge account, so that's 5% back. Not the 7.5% back I'd get with 5UR/$, but not terrible.

jjmiller69

I always max out on the wholesale clubs so I have 3-4 quarters done. With gas charges 1st quarter the only one that that I might miss? Maybe I'll buy gas cards to cover the rest of the year lol. Heck I may need another Freedom card.

fastpoint

For Amazon lovers....go buy up Amazon gift cards at walgreens or CVS

DeltaNeutral28

CVS will yield me an avios rounder (With 2 freedoms) to a host of east coast destinations for roughly $45 and 20 minutes of my time (3 vanillas per freedom, followed by trip to grocery store next door for MO, + TSA fee). I'm almost compelled to send Jaime Dimon a thank you letter.

A year ago when Avios rounders were 9k for short hauls, those were the days.