Spring time! A new quarter means it is time to clean out your wallet and reassign the cards you are carrying to take advantage of 2nd quarter 2012 cash rewards credit cards [1] bonuses. Since many credit cards now offer cash back on a rotating quarterly schedule, we have to reorganize each quarter to make sure we get the best cash back. But I’m finding it’s also a great way to clean out my wallet and get rid of the miscellaneous receipts and other accumulated things I don’t need anymore!
You know how it works: switch out the the 2012 1st Quarter 5% Rewards [2] and maximize your cash rewards [3] for 2nd quarter 2012 to make sure you have the right cards, you are signed up for the 5% promotions, and you know where to use them.
2nd Quarter 2012 5% Cash Rewards Credit Cards
Chase Freedom. The Chase Freedom card is moving on from gas to groceries. They’re also getting rid of Amazon.com [4] (so you might want to squeeze in any last purchases before the end of the month)! Movies are also a Chase Freedom 2012 reward. The 2nd quarter 2012 Chase Freedom 5% categories are:
- Grocery Stores
- Movie Theaters
See the entire 2012 Chase Freedom Rewards Calendar [5].
Discover More [6]. The Discover 5% cash back is covering restaurants for 2nd quarter 2012! I know that will make many of you happy since we haven’t seen a good restaurant card in the rotation lately. The 2nd quarter 2012 Discover More 5% categories are:
- Restaurants
- Movies
See the entire 2012 Discover More Rewards Calendar [7].
Citi Dividend [8].The Citi card has the most exciting rotation this quarter: home and garden! With the incredible warm weather we’re having, my husband is in springtime home improvement mode! I just made him promise to wait until April 1 before he buys anything (we’re planning a new porch door and some new trees!) so we can put it on the Citi Dividend card. The 2nd quarter 2012 Citi Dividend 5% categories are:
- The Home Depot
- Home Furnishing
- Home & Garden
No Sign Up Needed
And as always, here are the easier cash back categories, since you don’t need to sign up:
Travel. Our travel purchases this spring will be dedicated to the Chase Sapphire Preferred card since we can redeem our $625 travel bonus!
Grocery Stores. My favorite card is still the American Express Blue Cash Preferred Card [9] which gives 6% cash back on groceries.
Gas Purchases. The Pen Fed Platinum VISA gives 5% cash back for pay at the pump gas purchases. If you aren’t into switching around your quarterly cards above, you can keep this one in your wallet all the time.
Restaurants. Another option for restaurants is the Citi Forward [10] card, which offers 5 ThankYou Points for every $1. I’m keeping this on the list because I know many of you took advantage of the Discover More balance transfer last month, so you don’t want to put any purchases on it right now. You can use the Citi Forward card instead.
Target Purchases. Target purchases will keep going on the Target 5% discount credit card [11].
Wireless and Office Supplies. Wireless and office supplies get charged on the American Express SimplyCash Business [12] card to get 5% on both of those categories.
Costco. We’re still doing the switcharoo at Costco, and it works well! After showing our TrueEarnings Card from Costco and American Express [13] as our membership card, we put our purchases on the Fidelity Credit Card [14] for 2% cash back.
Everything Else. All other purchases are now going to gift cards purchased on our American Express [15]. If you aren’t into the gift cards, you can put the rest of the charges on the Sallie Mae Card [16] for 2% cash back.
How to Get Your 5% Cash Back
As a reminder, here’s my checklist for rotating cash back programs:
- Sign up for all of the new quarterly cash back programs, even if you don’t know if you’ll use that card. To sign up, just log in to your account online and select the 2nd quarter 2012 5% cash back information. In order to earn the 5%, you have to enroll in each program quarterly.
- Write which categories to use each card for using a marker on the front of the card. It works really well to keep the cards straight!
Sign Up Bonus Offers
If you don’t have the 5% cash rewards cards I’m using, here are the ones currently offering sign up bonus offers:
- Chase Freedom $200 Sign Up Bonus
- Citi $100 Sign Up Bonus [8]
- American Express Blue Cash $150 Sign Up Bonus [9]