What a rotating bonus category actually pays
Two cards here have bonus categories the issuer swaps every quarter, and four more let you choose a category and keep it. Both advertise a rate that only pays once you have switched it on — and for the rotating ones, only in a quarter where the issuer happened to pick something you buy. We are in July–September 2026.
Every category ranking on this site scores these cards at their base rate, with nothing selected. That costs them places in the table and it is the honest way round: a rate you might not have this quarter is not a rate.
| Card | Bonus | Base | Ceiling | Categories the rule covers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Freedom Flex
Chase · Issuer picks, quarterly
|
5x | 1x | Up to $1,500 per quarter, then the base rate | Groceries, Gas, Dining, Online, Wholesale, Transit and 12 more |
|
Discover it Cash Back
Discover · Issuer picks, quarterly
|
5% | 1% | Up to $1,500 per quarter, then the base rate | Groceries, Gas, Dining, Online, Wholesale, Transit and seven more |
|
Custom Cash
Citi · You pick, until you change it
|
5x | 1x | Up to $500 per billing cycle, then the base rate | Dining, Groceries, Gas, Transit, Streaming, Drugstores and nine more |
|
Customized Cash Rewards
Bank of America · You pick, until you change it
|
3% | 1% | Up to $2,500 per quarter, then the base rate | Gas, Online, Dining, Transit, Fun, Drugstores and six more |
|
Cash+ Visa Signature
U.S. Bank · You pick, until you change it
|
5% | 1% | Up to $2,000 per quarter, then the base rate | Dining, Delivery, Utilities, Phone, Streaming, Dept. store and seven more |
|
Strata
Citi · You pick, until you change it
|
3x | 1x | No stated cap | Fitness, Streaming, Fun, Beauty and Pet |
Three things the advertised rate does not include
The quarter. An issuer-rotated card pays its bonus on whatever the issuer picked, which may be nothing you buy. Across a year the advertised rate applies to a fraction of the calendar, on a fraction of your spending.
The activation. Almost all of these require you to switch the quarter's categories on. Missing it does not reduce the bonus, it removes it — the card pays its base rate for three months and nothing tells you.
The ceiling. Most carry a spending cap per quarter, after which the card drops to its base rate for the rest of it. The ceiling column above is read straight out of the catalogue, and a card with no stated cap says so rather than being left blank.
What Cardful does with a stale selection
A selection is stamped with the quarter it was made in. When that quarter ends, the pick describes categories that no longer pay, so scoring drops the card to its base rate rather than honouring a bonus it no longer earns — and the extension says so, with the fix one screen away. Cards where you choose the category keep their selection until you change it, because nothing has expired.
This is the difference between a wrong answer and a quiet one. A card credited with a lapsed bonus wins rankings it should lose, at a checkout, in the two seconds somebody spends reading it.
Point values: published industry valuations, most recently read 2026-08. We track The Points Guy, Upgraded Points, NerdWallet and AwardWallet. Every figure on this page is recomputed from that data when the site is built, so it cannot quietly disagree with what Cardful tells you at a checkout.
It knows which quarter you are in.
Cardful tracks the quarter your selection was made in and stops crediting a bonus the moment it lapses.