You will earn this 5% on the first $1,500 you spend at all three areas combined. The maximum amount you can earn will be $75. Just be sure to activate the quarter before you start spending.

HOW SOON CAN YOU ACTIVATE YOUR DISCOVER IT SAVINGS?

You can activate the Discover IT’s quarters 2 months prior to when the quarter begins. For example quarter 3 which lasts from July 1st to September 30th can be activated on May 1st. As you can see in the graphic below, the categories will be restaurants and Paypal. Stay tuned in the coming months when we will discuss the best strategies for maximizing how to earn you $75 cash back.

HOW TO MAXIMIZE QUARTER 1

Most should be able to take advantage and maximize quarter 1 for the Discover IT. Especially in this quarter in the Grocery Store category alone. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2018 the average family spends $4,464 per year on groceries. That averages $372 per month.

Because every family’s needs are different, you will no doubt have to adjust accordingly. But for the sake of ease we will use the above numbers for this discussion. For the three months of January, February, and March the average family would spend about $1,116 in the first quarter alone. Only putting you $384 short of the $1,500 cap of earning 5% cash back.

What do most grocery stores, CVS, and Walgreens have in common? They sell gift cards. So what I would recommend doing is purchasing either gift cards to the grocery store you like shopping at since you know you will use it anyway. Alternatively, you could purchase a gift card or gift cards to places you know you will be able to use. Don’t purchase gift cards just to purchase them. You should do so with a clear plan in mind. 

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

What does a practical way of putting this into practice look like? I live in the small town of Houston, Texas. Have you heard of it? Oh, you have? Well anyway, we have a popular chain here called Kroger. They sell a variety of gift cards. 

Anyway my wife and I will be going to California this week for a wedding. While there, we decided to go to Disneyland for a couple days. Kroger sells, you guessed it, Disney gift cards. I purchased $1,000 of Disney gift cards with my Discover IT card. Basically saving my $50.

Now I will get that $50 in the form of available cash back on my Discover IT account that I can use towards my balance or deposit into my bank account. What is great about Discover is if you are still within your first of having this card they will match all of your cash back at the end of your first year. So essentially you could save 10% or $150 each quarter instead of $75.

ANOTHER BENEFIT OF BUYING GIFT CARDS

Another great way I save money when purchasing gift cards at Kroger is being able to take advantage of the promotions they have. Kroger has a fuel rewards program. You earn 1 point per dollar you spend. For every 100 points you earn you can save 10 cents off per gallon of gas.

They usually have 2X fuel points on gift cards and just about every weekend it seems they will allow you to earn 4X fuel points on gift cards.

So my $1,000 Disney gift card purchase earned me 2000 fuel rewards. If it weren’t for my poor planning and waiting until the last minute I could have taken advantage of the 4X fuel rewards that is currently running and earned 4000 fuel rewards.

Kroger allows you to redeem 1000 fuel rewards maximum per transaction. So the most you can save is $1.00 off per gallon. Depending on how many gallons of gasoline it takes to fill up that could be some serious savings. Keep in mind that fuel rewards usually expire within a month. So you won’t want to hoard them.

DO YOU WANT A FREE $50?

If you’re thinking about getting this card now is a great time. You can use this link to apply and get a free $50 as long as you make one transaction within the first 3 months of opening your account.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

The Discover IT card is one of the easiest to use rotating categories credit cards to use. I love that it has no annual fee too. Discover also reveals the whole year calendar ahead of time to help you plan your spend accordingly. Quarter 2 will be Gas Stations, Lyft, Uber, and Wholesale Clubs. Check back for that one. So now that you know how to maximize quarter 1 for the Discover IT, are you ready to start saving?

The post DISCOVER IT | MAXIMIZE QUARTER 1 OF 2020 appeared first on My Credit Card IQ.

With the recent updates announced to the Chase Sapphire Reserve. A lot of credit card enthusiasts have been talking about changes. One of which involves Chase teaming up with Lyft. In this article we will look at how you can earn more on Lyft Rides with Chase. Particularly 10X ultimate rewards points per dollar spent beginning January 12, 2020.

I just found out by doing some reading on lyft.com that this perk is currently slated to last until March of 2022. But I also read about some other exciting information that applies across multiple Chase credit cards.

Chase Credit Cards that earn more with Lyft

Chase Sapphire Reserve: 

        10x total points on Lyft Rides 

        1 year of complimentary Lyft Pink membership per account (business profile is not eligible)

Chase Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire, Ink Preferred, and Ink Plus: 

        5x total points on Lyft Rides 

Chase Freedom, Student, and Unlimited: 

        5% total cash back on Lyft rides 

Chase Ink, Cash, Business, and Unlimited:

        5% total cash back on Lyft rides 

How to earn

Getting started is a breeze.

Step 1: Make sure you have the latest version of the Lyft app downloaded.

Step 2: Set your eligible Chase card as your default payment method.

Step 3: Earn on rides through March 2022.

Please note starting on Jan 12, you’ll be able to activate the Lyft Pink membership. Set your Chase Sapphire Reserve card as the default payment method in the Lyft app (not available for business profiles) by March 2022 and in-app messaging will guide eligible cardmembers through the complimentary enrollment.

How each Chase card earns with lyft

Without taking into consideration other benefits and only looking at the lyft multiplier we will do the math and see where the breakeven point is.

• Chase Sapphire Reserve

With the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you will earn 10X points which can be worth up to a 20% return. Since this benefit is only being added for Chase to up the annual fee by $100. We will use that amount as the breakeven point. You’d have to spend $500 on lyft each year to cover the cost of the $100 fee increase.

$500 X 20% = $100

• Chase Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire, Ink Preferred, and Ink Plus

With the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire, Ink Preferred, and Ink Plus cards all having a $95 annual fee and earning 5X points which can be worth up to a 10% return. You’d have to spend $950 on lyft each year to cover the cost of the $95 annual fee.

$950 x 10% = $95

• Chase Freedom, Student, and Unlimited and the Chase Ink, Cash, Business, and Unlimited

With the Chase Freedom, Student, and Unlimited cards and the Chase Ink, Cash, Business, and Unlimited cards you earn a flat 5% back. These cards have no annual fee. So there is no break even point here as you have no annual fee to cover. 

What is the best Chase Credit Card to use for lyft?

If you already have the Chase Sapphire Reserve and use Lyft on a regular basis you will probably benefit from keeping it to pay for your Lyft rides.

I think the sweet spot will be to use one of the credit cards with a $95 annual fee. The Chase Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire, Ink Preferred, and Ink Plus as these cards had no increase of the annual fee as of the writing of this article. 

If you have never used lyft before, you can get a free $5.00 credit by clicking here. 

Overall Thoughts

Chase teaming up with Lyft makes sense as a way to add perks that the competitor has.  American Express and Uber have teamed up a while back now. However for those with the Sapphire Preferred in their wallets, this change is pretty lackluster for most. For those with any of the other Chase credit cards mentioned, they will probably receive the most benefit since there is no extra charge attached. 

The post Chase Teaming up with Lyft | Earn with these cards appeared first on My Credit Card IQ.

This card is bringing it’s A game to the table and I expect it to be a real competitor in the 5% and 5X cash back credit card market. It is a rotating cash back credit card, so it puts it in the same category as the Discover IT card, Chase Freedom, and the U.S. Bank Cash + cards. In this post we will look at how this card earns, some of the perks it comes with, including a sign-up bonus, and of course the categories it earns 5X in.

What is a rotating cash back credit card?

The credit card issuer chooses a category or categories each quarter. For example, the 1st quarter of 2020 is January-March, The Discover IT card’s 5% categories are Grocery Stores, Walgreens and CVS. You earn 5% cash back on your first $1,500 of spending in each quarter in all categories combined. With a maximum earning potential of $75 each quarter. Any spend after the $1,500 and all spend outside of the category earns at a 1% cash back rate.

How to earn points?

The ABOC Platinum Rewards mastercard is no different in the way it earns. You earn 5X points per dollar spent on your first $1500 for all categories per quarter. For ABOC this is calculated at the base rate of 1X point per dollar spent and then an additional 4X points per dollar spent in the given category or categories. Any spend after the $1500 and all spend outside of the category earns at a 1X cash back rate. If you max out the quarters you will have earned $300 cash back without any extra effort on your part.

For any of the 1X cash back rate that you might spend on this card, there is no cap on the points you can earn and the points will never expire. Another thing I like about this card is that once you register your account with this new credit card you don’t have to activate or enroll in any of the quarters 5X bonuses, unlike the Discover IT, Chase Freedom and others. 

You can redeem your ABOC points on Travel, gift cards, merchandise, and cash back in the form of a statement credit. I suspect the Travel and cash back redemption options will be the best route. It will be interesting to see what kind of gift cards will be available. I’ll be sure to update you as new information is released. 

Easy Sign-Up Bonus

This credit card will have one of the easiest sign-up bonuses on the market. You only have to spend $1,200 in the first 90 days of account opening to receive a $150 statement credit. Which is a nice 12.5% return on your spend for purchases you were going to make anyway. The 90 days starts from the day you applied and were approved for the card and not when you receive the card. 

It’s a 5X Cash Back Travel Credit Card? Sorta…

Check out this new 5X #cashback #creditcard. You can even save on Travel, Unbelievable!
Share on X

This card has no foreign transaction fees, so you don’t have to worry if you use this card when traveling abroad or even making purchases with international merchants, Although I suspect you’d have a better card option in your wallet while traveling.

Let’s take a look at the categories. What I really like is that ABOC has released their 5X calendar for the whole year of 2020. They did the same in 2019. This is excellent for those of us in the credit card points, miles, and cash back community as it allows us to plan ahead so we can best optimize our credit card use.

At the outset of this post I stated that this 5X cash back credit card from ABOC Platinum Rewards Mastercard is bringing it’s A game and I truly believe that. All of the categories chosen for 2020 are on par with the big boys. The quarter where I think this card really shines is going to be in quarter 3 July-Sept. You will be able to earn 5X points back on travel. This includes airlines, hotels, car rental, and even travel agencies. 5X back on travel is hard to come by and almost never happens on a no annual fee credit card.

They had the same category in the same quarter in 2019. I think it would have been better at least from a consumer standpoint to have this category in the second quarter for 2020. Since most families are traveling during the summer months, most of these trips were planned and paid for prior to July. But I’ll still take it as an option because this is an amazing category to have available. 

Overall

I think for a no annual fee credit card that comes with an easy to reach sign-up bonus and plenty of fire power options when it comes to how to earn the 5X points, this card is a must add to your wallet. Having no foreign transaction fees is a nice addition too. I suspect it won’t be long before all credit cards do away with them. If you like an extra $300 every year then you should consider getting the ABOC Platinum Rewards Mastercard

The post New 5X Cash Back Credit Card appeared first on My Credit Card IQ.