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Activate Chase Freedom 5x Categories for the 4th quarter
You can now activate your Chase Freedom 5x Categories for the 4th quarter. If you don’t activate your card for the 4th quarter you won’t earn 5x points even if you spend in the listed categories. So make sure ACTIVATE!!! The 4th quarter categories are: Department Stores, Wholesale Clubs, and Drug stores. Check out the list of merchants that qualify for these different categories. So go enjoy all your bonus points!!!
List of Department Stores, Wholesale Clubs, and Drug Stores
Top Department Stores merchants and qualifying purchases:
JCPenney® Kohl’s® Macy’s® Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack Sears®
Also earn 5% at these Department Stores:
Barney’s Baskins® Bealls Beiter’s Belk Bergdorf Goodman The Big Store Bloomingdale’s Bon-Ton®, including Bergner’s® Boston Store® Carson’s® Elder-Beerman® Herbergers® PARISIAN Younkers® Boscov’s Bradley’s Burke’s® Cayman’s® Cee & Cee Department Store Charles Christensen’s Conway Cook Brothers Dillard’s Flemington Department Store Getz’s® Hudson’s JC’S 5 Star Jeffery Joe Brand Loehmann’s Lord & Taylor Magic Mart Max & Jill Neiman Marcus and NM Last Call Rains RH Renny Saks Fifth Ave and Off 5th Sam Moon Shopko Uhan’s Department Store Uniway® Von Maur® Weaver’s Store
Merchants Not Classified as Department Stores:
Target Walmart Kmart Discount stores such as TJ Maxx Electronics stores General merchandise and Variety stores Gift cards purchased at any locations other than the department stores on the inclusion list
Examples of Wholesale Club merchants and qualifying purchases (Please check with your local Wholesale Clubs to see if your Chase Freedom card is accepted):
Costco BJ’s Sam’s Club Texas Jasmine
- Purchases made through the checkout on the wholesale club merchant’s website (EX. Costco.com, BJs.com, Samsclub.com)
- Purchases made in-store at the front-end registers
- Purchases made at the member services desk
Wholesale Clubs Related Purchase
Exclusions:Gas and Fuel Wholesale Clubs specialty services such as travel, insurance, cell phone and home improvement.
Examples of Drugstore merchants and qualifying purchases:
Walgreens CVS Duane Read Discount Drug Mart Long’s Drugs Bartell Drugs Rite Aid
FAQs from Chase
Common Questions about categories /merchants
Q. What types of merchants are in the Department Store category?
A. Purchases made on a merchant’s website are included. 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.1Q. What types of merchants are in the Wholesale Clubs category?
A. Typically these merchants operate warehouse-style retail stores, sell in bulk, and concentrate on price appeal. Merchants sell a full range of household goods and merchandise, groceries, furniture, electronics, appliances, and auto supplies. These merchants may or may not have membership requirements. Specialty wholesale merchants and distributors like National Wholesale Liquidators and Wood Floors Plus Wholesale are not included. Check with your local wholesale clubs to see if your Chase Freedom card is accepted.2Q. What types of merchants are in the Drugstores category?
A. Merchants in the Drugstores category specialize in selling prescription drugs and over-the-counter medicines, supplements and various health-related items. These merchants may also sell cosmetics, toiletries, greeting cards, and various household items such as cleaning supplies and packaged foods and drinks. Please note that some merchants that sell a wide variety of goods including these items, and which may contain an on-site pharmacy, for example, warehouse clubs, discount stores, or grocery stores, are not included in this category.1 For more information, please see Chase FreedomFrequently Asked Questions.
2 Does not include gas, fuel, wholesale club specialty service purchases 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.
The listed merchant(s) are in no way affiliated with Chase, nor are the listed merchant(s) considered sponsors or co-sponsors of this program. All trademarks are the property of their respective owner(s).
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
$300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- $300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- That’s worth $750 when redeemed through Chase Travel℠. Plus, get up to $300 in statement credits on Chase Travel℠ purchases within your first year
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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