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(Reminder) 5% Categories & Quick Activation Links For Q1 2026

Mark Ostermann
Mark Ostermann

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5% Categories For 2026 1st Quarter

5% Categories For 2026 1st Quarter

Nothing quite gets the juices flowing like a 5x earning swipe. Okay, outside of massive welcome offers and spending bonuses at least. However, if you are in a bonus dry spell then 5x earning is where you look for that spending high. Here are all of the currently available 5% categories for 2026’s 1st quarter. Including easy access activation links for each card. Make sure you lock them up before 3/15/26 or miss out on your 5x earning forever. Double check you got yourself right before you cost yourself thousands of points!

Chase Freedom Flex (Original / Vanilla Freedom – No Longer Available)

The categories for this upcoming quarter for the Freedom Flex, and original Freedom, are as follows (5x earning on your first $1,500 in spend from all 3 combined):

  • Norwegian Cruise Line
  • Dining
  • Donations to the American Heart Association
  • Activation Link

This quarter for the Freedom Flex is not great. Dining is already a bonus earning option at 4x – 6x earning rates on several cards, so it doesn’t move the needle much. The other two options are pretty worthless as well. That is unless you happen to have a Norwegian booking you needed to make.

Discover Card

Next up is the Discover card, which is probably my favorite option these days. We do have four of them between the wife and myself. Over the last year or two I have found their categories to have more meat on the bone compared to the competition. You can earn a cumulative 5% back on the first $1,500 in spend on the following categories this quarter:

Now, this is what I am talking about. Grocery is a huge category to have, and then you throw in wholesale clubs – forget about it!

5% Categories For 2026 1st Quarter

US Bank Cash+

The US Bank Cash+ earns 5% back on up to $2,000 in spend each quarter. That is a bit different from the first two cards, which is capped at $1,500. You also get to select 2 categories from their list which is nice, even if a little more limited since nothing changes:

  • Shopping
    • Furniture stores
    • Electronic stores
    • Department stores
    • Select clothing stores
    • Sporting goods stores
  • Services & Utilities
    • Home utilities
    • Cell phone providers
    • Gyms/fitness centers
    • Ground transportation
  • Entertainment
    • Movie theaters
    • Fast food
    • TV, internet and streaming
  • Activation Link 

I really wish they didn’t make you sign up each and every quarter. It should be a kind of set it and forget it unless you wanted to change it up. The options are unique compared to other card’s options, while somehow also being a bit blah because the upside is a little limited.

Citi Dividend

The difference with the Citi Dividend card when compared to the others on this list is that you get $6,000 per year across all quarters. Which allows you to skip some quarters and still maximize your entire spending cap. The categories for the card are as follows:

I kind of loathe when Amazon is the main quarterly option. That is because you can rack up 5x earning on Amazon fairly easy numerous different ways. You can do markedly better than 5x when leveraging Amex Offers etc. too.

Maximizing 5x Earning

That does it for the 5% categories for the 1st quarter of 2026. Ensure you activated these before it is too late on 3/15. Some banks will still give you the points if you already completed the spend before you activated the 5x earning. It is always worth double checking quickly just to be sure.

Mark Ostermann
Mark Ostermann
Mark Ostermann is a father, husband and miles/points fanatic. He left the corporate world after starting a family in order to be a stay at home dad. Mark is constantly looking at ways to save money and stay within budget while also taking awesome vacations with his family. When he isn't caring for his family or taking a weekend trip, Mark is working towards his goal of visiting every Major League Baseball ballpark.

Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

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At Miles to Memories we share the best tips, tricks and deals plus travel rants, musings, hotel, airline and loyalty program reviews and a lot more! Our goal is to help people save money so they can get out there and travel the world! Through our various blog posts, podcasts & videos we teach others how to maximize loyalty rewards, hotel & airline programs and credit cards to achieve amazing things.

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