Chase Freedom has announced their 5% cash back categories for 2012. There's really nothing surprising in this list though. Here they are along with my thoughts:
January – March
- Gas stations – I will still be using the PenFed card. It's the same reward level, and I like credit unions better than big banks.
- Amazon.com – this is better than Amazon's own card which gives 3%, but it's not as good as you can get buying Amazon gift cards at the grocery store with your AMEX Blue Case Preferred card which will yield you 6%.
April – June
- Grocery stores – I will be using my AMEX Blue Case Preferred card instead since it pays 6%.
- Movie theatres – I watch about 1 movie per year in the theatre (on my birthday). Unfortunately, my birthday is not in this quarter.
July – September
- Gas stations – Again, I will still be using the PenFed card. It's the same reward level, and I like credit unions better than big banks.
- Restaurants – I love it when the restaurants are at 5%. I don't eat out more often because of this, but I get a bigger kickback when I travel for work and get to expense my meals.
October – December
- Hotels – I will probably stick with my Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card. These stays are all reimbursed anyway since I really only travel for work.
- Airlines – This I will probably use.
- Best Buy – Wow, I wonder when the new Nintendo is coming out…tempting.
- Kohl's – I like Kohl's a lot. Many of my dress shirts, belts, and ties come from that store. I also like the 70-80% off deals on kids clothes.