U.S. Bank Cash+ is a card that lets you choose two categories to earn 5% in. You can change your categories every quarter and you’re restricted to earning 5% on the first $2,000 in combined spend on both categories (e.g maximum of $100 cash back), the card then reverts to earning 1% cash back on those categories. Starting April 1st, 2018 home utilities will replace bookstores as a 5% category. Home utilities includes:
- electric, gas and waste management companies
Some cardholders will be disappointed in this change as Amazon codes as a bookstore and this was a common option for earning 5% at Amazon. Thankfully there are other options for earning at a high rate on Amazon including the Amazon Prime store card and Chase Amazon.com Rewards card. Earning at a high rate on regular bookstores is now almost non-existent with the Sallie Mae card no longer being offered either. Thankfully home utilities is a useful category and a lot of people should be able to take advantage of this 5% opportunity. One thing to keep in mind is that most utility providers will allow you to prepay your bill, this could be a way to max out the 5% category before changing categories for another quarter. Other 5% categories include:
- Ground Transportation
- Select Clothing Stores
- Cell Phones
- Electronics Stores
- Car Rentals
- Gyms/Fitness Centers
- Bookstores (to be replaced by Home Utilities)
- Fast Food
- Sporting Goods Stores
- Department Stores
- Furniture Stores
- Movie Theaters
Hat tip to perspicaciousliberal
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