We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Each quarter, Chase has targeted spending offers for many of their credit cards called My Bonus Spending Offers. These offers provide bonus points on specific categories of purchases and are capped at $1500 in combined purchases across the targeted categories, per card, for a duration of 3 months. If you have a Chase Freedom Flex(SM) card, you may already be familiar with the concept of rotating 5x category bonuses, which work in a similar manner.
For the fourth quarter of 2023, Chase is targeting cards with 5x bonus points on purchases made at grocery stores, gas stations, and Amazon. These bonuses will be applicable from October 1st, 2023 to December 31st, 2023, and are capped at a maximum spend of $1500 on the combined targeted categories. While the usual bonus rate is 5x, in the past, we have seen certain IHG cards receive a bump up to 7x points.
If you are targeted for these bonuses, you can activate them now and start earning bonus points on eligible purchases made between October 1st and December 31st, 2023. It’s important to note that the $1500 spending cap applies per card, so if you have multiple Chase cards that are targeted, you can earn the bonus on each card individually. The categories being targeted for this quarter’s bonuses are gas stations, grocery stores, and Amazon.
As a cardholder with several Chase co-branded cards, I received the following bonus offers:
– My IHG Select card was targeted to receive bonus points on gas station and grocery store purchases.
– My wife’s Ritz card also had similar bonus categories.
In addition to the Chase Freedom cards, the targeted cards for these My Bonus Spending Offers are likely to include United Cards, Hyatt, Marriott, and Southwest Cards.
To see what bonus offer you have received, you can visit the Chase My Bonus Spending Offer page and fill in your information.
Now, the question arises whether you should pivot your purchases to the targeted cards. The answer to this depends on your current card portfolio and the value you place on the bonus points. If you don’t have a card that earns bonus points on the targeted categories, it could make sense to shift your spending to the targeted cards. However, if you already have a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® that earns 3x on dining, it may not be worth pivoting to the IHG card to earn 5x on restaurants. This is because Chase Ultimate Rewards points are conservatively valued at 1.5 cents per point, meaning a 3x multiple is equivalent to getting 4.5 cents back when you pay with your Chase Sapphire Preferred. On the other hand, IHG points are valued at around 0.5 cents per point, so a 5x multiple would only yield 2.5 cents back per dollar spent on restaurants.
On the other hand, if you don’t have a card that earns a multiple on gas, earning 5x points on gas station purchases can be quite valuable. In my case, with the targeted offer of 5x points on gas, it would be equivalent to getting 3.5 cents back per point, which is a good return if you don’t have another option. However, if you already have a card like the Citi Premier that earns 3x on gas, it wouldn’t make sense to pivot away since Citi Thank You points are valued at least 1.5 cents per point.
In conclusion, when considering whether to pivot your purchases to the targeted cards, it’s important to evaluate the value you would receive in dollar terms rather than just point terms. Make sure you’re earning the maximum value back per dollar spent based on your card portfolio and the valuation of the points or rewards you would earn.