Cash Back Bonus Calendar 2012

For the most part, Chase Freedom, Discover More and Citi Dividend have released details of the 5% rotating bonuses that they will be offering in 2012. If you have one of these cards, you can already sign up for your first quarter bonus program. The chart below summarizes the quarterly bonuses available for each of these cards and should give you an idea of how to maximize your cash back.

Cash Back Bonus Calendar 2012
Unless otherwise noted below, if a card appears in the table, it indicates that purchases made in the corresponding category will earn a 5% rebate, subject to a bonus cap. Chase Freedom and Discover More will earn 5% on up to $1,500 in bonus category purchases each quarter. Citi Dividend cardholders will also earn 5% in their bonus categories, but are limited to a maximum of a $300 cash rebate per year, unless they received an offer indicating otherwise.

Category	Jan-Mar	Apr-June	July-Sept	Oct-Dec
Gas stations	Chase Freedom		Chase Freedom
Amazon.com	Chase Freedom
Museums
Movie theaters		Chase Freedom
Health care
Fitness clubs
Utilities
Restaurants			Chase Freedom
Grocery stores		Chase Freedom (Only in May for Discover)
Theme parks
Department stores
Electronics stores
Toy stores
Hotels				Chase Freedom
Airlines				Chase Freedom
Best Buy				Chase Freedom
Kohl’s				Chase Freedom
Macy’s
Home Depot
Home Furnishing
Home & Garden
Car Rental
Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Gap Outlet, Banana Republic Outlet

Note: As of the time of publication, Citi has only released its first quarter’s categories. Also, Discover has only committed to offering its 5% cashback bonus on up to $1,500 in purchases through the first half of 2012. It has not yet specified its bonus spending cap for its 5% cashback bonus for the last two quarters of 2012.

How and When to Sign Up
Chase Freedom cardholders can sign up for these bonuses each quarter by visiting creditcards.chase.com/freedom/activate.aspx or by calling the number on the back of their card. Chase cardholders can also sign up for reminders to activate their 5% cash back. For 2012, cardholders must activate their 5% according to the following schedule:

Discover More cardholders can login to their account online or call 1-800-DISCOVER (1-800-347-2683) to sign up for the 5% Cashback bonus program. Unlike Chase’s program, you must have signed up for the program before you can begin earning the 5% bonus cashback. Discover More cardmembers can begin signing up anytime the month prior to the start of a quarter. For instance, for the quarter of April to June, cardmembers can begin signing up March 1.

Citi Dividend cardholders also can sign up online at dividend.quarterlyoffer.citi.com, by logging into their account online and clicking on the 5% cash back offer or by calling 1-800-231-0891.