topic Re: Chase Freedom & Discover Have the same 5% calendar? in Credit Cards

Chase Freedom Calendar v.s. Discover Calendar

Anonymous — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 14:13:36 GMT

The first quarter calendar for Chase Freedom and Discover both cover gas/grocery stores. I was wondering if their calendars will always have the same categories. Therefore no need to have both cards.

Re: Chase Freedom & Discover Have the same 5% calendar?

Anonymous — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 14:25:00 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
The first quarter calendar for Chase Freedom and Discover both cover gas/grocery stores. I was wondering if their calendars will always have the same categories. Therefore no need to have both cards.

Huh? What are *you* smoking? Neither Freedom nor Discover covers grocery in Q1.

Both cover gas and ground transportation. Discover also covers warehouse clubs, which is a differentiator.

Since Discover hasn't announced any of the rest of 2017, and Chase has only announced Q1 & Q2, it's impossible to say if there will be any more overlap this year.

Based on a quick analysis of the last five years (20 quarters), I see a substantial category overlap in about 9 quarters, so a little less that 50% overlap (though not complete overlap, as there are usually variations in what's covered). Whether or not the overlap makes it worth having both cards, is YMMV.

FWIW, here's some history:

2017
Discover Card
Q1: Gas, Ground transport, and Wholesale clubs
Q2: ?
Q3: ?
Q4: ?

Chase Freedom
Q1: Gas Stations, Local Commuter Transportation (not including parking, tolls and Amtrak purchases)
Q2: Grocery (not including Walmart and Target), Drug Stores
Q3: Summer Fun
Q4: Holiday

2016
Discover Card
Q1: Gas & Ground Transportation (including car rental)
Q2: Restaurants & movies
Q3: Home Improvement Stores & Amazon.com
Q4: Department Stores, Amazon.com, Sam's Club

Chase Freedom
Q1: Gas Stations and Local Commuter transportation (not parking, tolls and Amtrak)
Q2: Grocery Stores (not including Walmart and Target) and Warehouse Clubs
Q3: Restaurants and Warehouse Clubs
Q4: Department Stores, Drug Stores and Warehouse Clubs

2015
Discover Card
1st Quarter - Gas & Ground Transportation (Car Rental, Taxi, Limo, Public Transport)
2nd Quarter - Food and Fun - Restaurant & Movies
3rd Quarter - Summer Spruce Up & More - Home Improvement Stores, Department Stores, and Amazon.com
4th Quarter - Holiday Shopping & More - Amazon, Department Stores, Clothing Stores

Chase Freedom
Q1: Grocery Stores (not including WalMart and Target), Starbucks, and Movie Theaters
Q2: Restaurants and more - Restaurants, Bed Bath Beyond, Overstock.com
Q3: Gas Stations and more - Gas Stations and Kohl's
Q4: Amazon.com, Zappos.com, audible.com, diapers.com

2014
Discover Card
1st Quarter - Restaurants and Movies
2nd Quarter - Home Improvement Stores, Furniture Stores, Bed Bath Beyond
3rd Quarter - Gas stations
4th Quarter - Online Purchases, Department Stores

Chase Freedom Card
1st Quarter - Gas stations, Movie theaters, Starbucks stores
2nd Quarter - Restaurants, Lowe's
3rd Quarter - Gas stations, Kohl's
4th Quarter - Amazon.com, Zappos.com, select department stores

2013
Chase Freedom:
Q1: Gas stations, Drugstores, Starbucks� stores
Q2: Restaurants, Movie theaters
Q3: Gas stations, Theme Parks, Kohl's�
Q4: Select department stores, Amazon.com

Discover:
Q1: Restaurants, Movies
Q2: Spring Style (shows a picture of a flower) Clothing and home improvement
Q3: Summer Fun (shows a picture of a gas pump handle) Gas stations
Q4: Holiday Shopping (shows a picture of a gift bow) Department stores, Amazon.com

2012
Chase Freedom:
Q1: Gas Stations, Amazon.com
Q2: Grocery Stores, *Movie Theatres
Q3: Gas Stations, Restaurants
Q4: Hotels, Airlines, *Bestbuy, *Kohls

Discover:
Q1: Gas Stations, Museums, Movies
Q2: Restaurants, *Movies
Q3: Gas, Movies, Theme Parks
Q4: Deparment Stores, All Online Shopping

2011
Chase Freedom:
Q1: Grocery stores, Drug
Q2: Home Improvement, Lawn and Garden, Home Furnishings
Q3: Airlines, Hotels, Auto Rentals, Gasoline
Q4: Dining, Department Stores, Movies, Charity

Discover:
Q1: Airlines, Hotels, Car Rental, Cruises, Restaurant $800
Q2: Home Improvement, Department Stores, Clothing Stores
Q3: Gas, Hotels, Movies, Theme Parks
Q4: Restaurants, Department Stores, Clothing Stores

Chris.

Re: Chase Freedom Calendar v.s. Discover Calendar

CreditInspired — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 14:20:00 GMT

DiscoverIT 1stQtr covers Gas, Transport, Warehouse

Re: Chase Freedom Calendar v.s. Discover Calendar

CreditInspired — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 14:24:08 GMT

2017 Discover
Jan-Mar - Gas, Local ground Transport, Warehouse
Apr-Jun - Restaurants & Movies
Jul-Sep - Home improvement & Amazon
Oct-Dec - Sam's, Amazon & Dept stores

Re: Chase Freedom Calendar v.s. Discover Calendar

Anonymous — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 14:29:41 GMT

@CreditInspired wrote:
2017 Discover
Jan-Mar - Gas, Local ground Transport, Warehouse
Apr-Jun - Restaurants & Movies
Jul-Sep - Home improvement & Amazon
Oct-Dec - Sam's, Amazon & Dept stores

Hey! Where'd you get that?!

If true, then there is absolutely no overlap in Q2, and most likely none in Q3. Q4 is likely to be some overlap, but we won't know for sure until Chase announces Q3&Q4. Unless you have some inside information on Freedom, too!

Chris.

Re: Chase Freedom Calendar v.s. Discover Calendar

K-in-Boston — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 14:33:30 GMT

@CreditInspired wrote:
2017 Discover
Jan-Mar - Gas, Local ground Transport, Warehouse
Apr-Jun - Restaurants & Movies
Jul-Sep - Home improvement & Amazon
Oct-Dec - Sam's, Amazon & Dept stores

You sure Q2-Q4 aren't from 2016? Those are the exact same categories and as far as I know Discover has not released them publicly for 2017.

Re: Chase Freedom & Discover Have the same 5% calendar?

grillandwinemaster — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 14:37:08 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
The first quarter calendar for Chase Freedom and Discover both cover gas/grocery stores. I was wondering if their calendars will always have the same categories. Therefore no need to have both cards.
Huh? What are *you* smoking? Neither Freedom nor Discover covers grocery in Q1.

Both cover gas and ground transportation. Discover also covers warehouse clubs, which is a differentiator.

Since Discover hasn't announced any of the rest of 2017, and Chase has only announced Q1 & Q2, it's impossible to say if there will be any more overlap this year.

Based on a quick analysis of the last five years (20 quarters), I see a substantial category overlap in about 9 quarters, so a little less that 50% overlap (though not complete overlap, as there are usually variations in what's covered). Whether or not the overlap makes it worth having both cards, is YMMV.

FWIW, here's some history:

2017
Discover Card
Q1: Gas, Ground transport, and Wholesale clubs
Q2: ?
Q3: ?
Q4: ?
Chase Freedom
Q1: Gas Stations, Local Commuter Transportation (not including parking, tolls and Amtrak purchases)
Q2: Grocery (not including Walmart and Target), Drug Stores
Q3: Summer Fun
Q4: Holiday

2016
Discover Card
Q1: Gas & Ground Transportation (including car rental)
Q2: Restaurants & movies
Q3: Home Improvement Stores & Amazon.com
Q4: Department Stores, Amazon.com, Sam's Club
Chase Freedom
Q1: Gas Stations and Local Commuter transportation (not parking, tolls and Amtrak)
Q2: Grocery Stores (not including Walmart and Target) and Warehouse Clubs
Q3: Restaurants and Warehouse Clubs
Q4: Department Stores, Drug Stores and Warehouse Clubs

2015
Discover Card
1st Quarter - Gas & Ground Transportation (Car Rental, Taxi, Limo, Public Transport)
2nd Quarter - Food and Fun - Restaurant & Movies
3rd Quarter - Summer Spruce Up & More - Home Improvement Stores, Department Stores, and Amazon.com
4th Quarter - Holiday Shopping & More - Amazon, Department Stores, Clothing Stores
Chase Freedom
Q1: Grocery Stores (not including WalMart and Target), Starbucks, and Movie Theaters
Q2: Restaurants and more - Restaurants, Bed Bath Beyond, Overstock.com
Q3: Gas Stations and more - Gas Stations and Kohl's
Q4: Amazon.com, Zappos.com, audible.com, diapers.com

2014
Discover Card
1st Quarter - Restaurants and Movies
2nd Quarter - Home Improvement Stores, Furniture Stores, Bed Bath Beyond
3rd Quarter - Gas stations
4th Quarter - Online Purchases, Department Stores
Chase Freedom Card
1st Quarter - Gas stations, Movie theaters, Starbucks stores
2nd Quarter - Restaurants, Lowe's
3rd Quarter - Gas stations, Kohl's
4th Quarter - Amazon.com, Zappos.com, select department stores

2013
Chase Freedom:
Q1: Gas stations, Drugstores, Starbucks� stores
Q2: Restaurants, Movie theaters
Q3: Gas stations, Theme Parks, Kohl's�
Q4: Select department stores, Amazon.com
Discover:
Q1: Restaurants, Movies
Q2: Spring Style (shows a picture of a flower) Clothing and home improvement
Q3: Summer Fun (shows a picture of a gas pump handle) Gas stations
Q4: Holiday Shopping (shows a picture of a gift bow) Department stores, Amazon.com

2012
Chase Freedom:
Q1: Gas Stations, Amazon.com
Q2: Grocery Stores, *Movie Theatres
Q3: Gas Stations, Restaurants
Q4: Hotels, Airlines, *Bestbuy, *Kohls
Discover:
Q1: Gas Stations, Museums, Movies
Q2: Restaurants, *Movies
Q3: Gas, Movies, Theme Parks
Q4: Deparment Stores, All Online Shopping

2011
Chase Freedom:
Q1: Grocery stores, Drug
Q2: Home Improvement, Lawn and Garden, Home Furnishings
Q3: Airlines, Hotels, Auto Rentals, Gasoline
Q4: Dining, Department Stores, Movies, Charity
Discover:
Q1: Airlines, Hotels, Car Rental, Cruises, Restaurant $800
Q2: Home Improvement, Department Stores, Clothing Stores
Q3: Gas, Hotels, Movies, Theme Parks
Q4: Restaurants, Department Stores, Clothing Stores

Chris.

Nice work!

Re: Chase Freedom Calendar v.s. Discover Calendar

Anonymous — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 15:40:10 GMT

I'm using Discover for Sam's Club and Freedom for gas [because of UR]. I'm pretty happy having both.

Re: Chase Freedom Calendar v.s. Discover Calendar

CreditInspired — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 16:06:24 GMT

Oops Chris, I think you're right. I searched to find out where in the world I got that info. So it probably is 2016. So sorry for providing incorrect info 😫 on MyFICO

Re: Chase Freedom Calendar v.s. Discover Calendar

Anonymous — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 16:42:48 GMT

Personally it's already complex enough to keep up with credit cards and which date the statement they closes, having to keep up with ridiculous rotating schedules for an extra 2% (you can find a card with 3% in which ever category you use most) is too much.

I'm with the people who believe it wont be long before they move to month to month rotating schedules along with requiring you remember to "add" the reward to your card each month, just so they can avoid actually paying most people the rewards they offered.

I want a card (that I can actually get) that gives 5% to 2 category's of your choice with no FTF and no Annual fee and the downsides being no bonus sign up and no intro apr reductions, hell even a super 20%> apr wouldn't bother me since the whole point is to never pay interest anyway.

My slightly related .02 cents

Re: Chase Freedom Calendar v.s. Discover Calendar

Anonymous — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 20:05:28 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Personally it's already complex enough to keep up with credit cards and which date the statement they closes, having to keep up with ridiculous rotating schedules for an extra 2% (you can find a card with 3% in which ever category you use most) is too much.

I'm with the people who believe it wont be long before they move to month to month rotating schedules along with requiring you remember to "add" the reward to your card each month, just so they can avoid actually paying most people the rewards they offered.

I want a card (that I can actually get) that gives 5% to 2 category's of your choice with no FTF and no Annual fee and the downsides being no bonus sign up and no intro apr reductions, hell even a super 20%> apr wouldn't bother me since the whole point is to never pay interest anyway.

My slightly related .02 cents

Monthly rotating categories?! Bring it on! lol

Seriously, I really don't mind the rotating categories with signup. I look at it this way: if not for the 5% rotating cards, I'd just use my Fidelity 2% card for everything. If I screw up and use the wrong card for a category, or forget to register for the bonus period, I'm losing 1% on those transactions versus using my 2% card. But if I get it right, I'm gaining 3% on those purchases over using my 2% card. So to break even, I only have to get the quarterly categories right 25% of the time to make the 5% card worth it. In fact, I bat more like 98% right.

Now, sometimes they throw me a curve ball. For example, I just got a letter yesterday for my Citi ThankYou card giving me 5% cashback through the end of Q1 (in addition to the normal 1 TYP) on Department Stores, Electronic Stores, Clothing Stores and Toy Stores. Great, except I already signed up my USBank Cash+ for Department Stores and Electronic Stores for Q1. Had I known this Citi offer was coming, I wouldn't have burned those Cash+ categories! But hey, it's all part of the game.

Chris.

Re: Chase Freedom Calendar v.s. Discover Calendar

Gggmen — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 20:53:07 GMT

Tell us how u really feel 😂

Chase FU 5k-Chase F 3k-Discover IT 3250- BofA 2k-Macys store card 3k.

No need for anymore cards. Garden and see where that takes me.

Re: Chase Freedom Calendar v.s. Discover Calendar

Anonymous — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 20:59:24 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Personally it's already complex enough to keep up with credit cards and which date the statement they closes, having to keep up with ridiculous rotating schedules for an extra 2% (you can find a card with 3% in which ever category you use most) is too much.

I'm with the people who believe it wont be long before they move to month to month rotating schedules along with requiring you remember to "add" the reward to your card each month, just so they can avoid actually paying most people the rewards they offered.

I want a card (that I can actually get) that gives 5% to 2 category's of your choice with no FTF and no Annual fee and the downsides being no bonus sign up and no intro apr reductions, hell even a super 20%> apr wouldn't bother me since the whole point is to never pay interest anyway.

My slightly related .02 cents

If you are always PIF (and you say never pay interest) just put all cards on PIF on due date, and then the first part of the load goes away (I have no idea when my statements close), allowing you, if you wish, to focus on the once a quarter changes on a handful of cards.

Re: Chase Freedom Calendar v.s. Discover Calendar

Anonymous — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 22:39:09 GMT

I understand its preference, I suppose my goals are to make my cards simple and effortless to use with clear benefits and that is not what everyone wants.

I'm sure some people get a kick out of maximizing rewards, but I spend enough time already keeping up with them lol.

I'm sure it really asking too much for a simple 5% gas and restaurant card and maybe a 5% department and grocery card or something to that effect.

Re: Chase Freedom Calendar v.s. Discover Calendar

python0704 — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 17:37:35 GMT

Just saw Discover April - June 2017 5% on Home Improvement Stores & Wholesale Clubs, think I might finally get the card and stock up Costco cash cards for the first two quarters.

Re: Chase Freedom Calendar v.s. Discover Calendar

CreditInspired — Thu, 02 Feb 2017 13:27:30 GMT

How does buying cash cards from Costco count toward DiscoverIT 5% category? Just trying to figure out how this works and how to go about doing it. Thank you.

Re: Chase Freedom Calendar v.s. Discover Calendar

NRB525 — Thu, 02 Feb 2017 15:02:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I understand its preference, I suppose my goals are to make my cards simple and effortless to use with clear benefits and that is not what everyone wants.

I'm sure some people get a kick out of maximizing rewards, but I spend enough time already keeping up with them lol.

I'm sure it really asking too much for a simple 5% gas and restaurant card and maybe a 5% department and grocery card or something to that effect.

Autopay be, like, effortless.

US Bank Cash+ lets you choose 5% on Department stores, as well as adding Sporting Goods if so inclined.