Check your math... My Kiva fun has cost me $2.19 out of $9500 invested (~30k UR points). $2.19/9500 = 0.000230, or 0.02%. If there's a better deal out there, please let us know. 22.5k UR points for $130 isn't bad by any means, but given my ratios with Kiva, that would mean $130 of "cost" would have netted you 1.7M UR points.

It is not that your math is wrong. But it is Kiva. I'd rather buy gift cards and other...

Q2-2018 has been a busy month. I get 3 Freedom and 3 Discover. Grocery GCs have been the way to go. I can't do much with Discover restaurant in Q3.

If one use PayPal via the Freedom card to buy goods, do Chase's purchase protection and extended warranty benefit still apply?

For anyone who does a large amount of shopping at Walmart (groceries, etc), you can purchase Walmart gift cards on their website, pay with Chase Pay, and have them sent to you for no cost. I just maxed out this quarter with $1500 in gift cards this way. Chase flagged it as suspicious activity, but a quick call resolved that.

Walmart and Target may not be coded as grocery. Have to use Chase Pay...

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...05632cc6d6.png
The 40 UR points from Chase Pay is from a test run I did by purchasing a 10$ gift card online.

​​​​​They aren't, but that is the point You have to use Chase Pay online. So I'm effectively getting 5% on grocery through Walmart (even though they aren't coded as grocery).

You can also use chase pay in store via Walmart app, which supports Chase pay.

Haven't read through the entire thread but I used my Freedom card for a PayPal transaction earlier this month for a foreign transaction ("HK" is in the description when expanded in online banking) yet no FTF was charged. Has anyone else noticed this? Does Chase hold off on charging said fees until the end of the billing period?

Anyway, I was okay with only getting 2% before but getting to keep all 5% would be a nice surprise. ^

Admittedly, this is complete speculation on my part as I know very little about PayPal....but is it possible that your Freedom card codes directly as a PayPal transaction (and therefore a domestic transaction) instead of coding as the foreign merchant transaction? (Plus, doesn't PayPal charge you 2.9%, thus reducing the 5% by that amount?)

My understanding is that the merchant pays PayPal's fee, not the buyer. It's different for money transfers, however.

Also, I've paid with PayPal for items from US sellers too and those transactions say "US" in the description. Of course, I'm not sure that matters much as you said.

No issues maxing out this quarter with Visa, Amazon, and Chevron gift cards at Safeway.

No problems maxing out the quarter just by buying groceries.

True, but for me, it's easier to just max out the category in one weekend if I can and have one less card to carry around for the rest of the quarter or not have to remember to use the card at checkout. Easy to forget sometimes after a long day of work.

One easy way is using Android Pay or Apple Pay at the Grocery store. If you have it set as your default card you don't even have to worry about selecting the right card as you just place the phone by the terminal and the right card is picked for you.

One downside to your strategy this quarter (which is understandable BTW) is that PayPal was included, so if for whatever reason you were buying something online later in the quarter at a store that is not in any category you miss out on the opportunity to get 5% back on a purchase you would otherwise never get that much back.