This article may be outdated
Terms, offers, links, or instructions in this article may no longer be valid. Please verify with official sources before taking action.

It’s already December, and there are only a little over 20 days left in 2023. How did everyone do with credit card applications this year? In any case, some benefits are tracked by calendar year, so don’t forget to use them before year-end. This article puts them together for you so you can check them off one by one.

Various Credits and Reimbursements (Based on the Calendar Year)

Quite a few credits are calculated by calendar year, so be sure to use them before December 31. To make sure the charge posts in time, it’s a good idea to start using them by around December 20, so they don’t end up counting toward next year instead. Some credits are based on your card member year, meaning they reset based on your card opening date, so there’s no need to rush on those.

Airline Incidental Fee Credits

Many credit cards offer airline incidental fee credits, ranging from $100-$250. Generally speaking, these credit limits are based on the calendar year. If you haven’t used yours yet this year, it’s time to get moving. If you have any of the cards listed below, you can use the tips in parentheses to trigger the airline credit. If you’re interested in applying, just click the card name to read the review.

For the AMEX family, the cards below all work under the same general rules. See AMEX airline credit guide. You first need to select an airline. If you haven’t used much of your current credit, you may be able to change it successfully by chatting with customer service online. AMEX may claw back credits back (currently the guess is that they may review non-qualifying reimbursements after card closure). The latest data point for triggering the credit is funding UA Travel Bank Cash and Southwest tickets under $100; other methods no longer work very well.

BofA’s credit is fairly flexible. Even though it is described as an airline incidental fee credit, AA gift card purchases can also trigger it.

This Citi card has a very broad travel credit that can be used toward airfare, checked bags, hotels, and other travel-related expenses. Just pay directly with the card.

If you were already planning to close any of these cards, you might as well wait until you receive the 2020 credit before downgrading, since the credit should be worth more than the prorated annual fee refund.

FHR and Hotel Collection Credit

The AMEX Platinum Card (including other Platinum versions) added a $200 FHR hotel credit after its refresh. If you can’t use it this year, consider booking a hotel stay for next year. Prepaid bookings are charged immediately, so you should receive the credit right away. If you later cancel the reservation, this year’s credit may be clawed back, so try to book a trip you’re fairly certain about.

Saks Credit

The AMEX Platinum Card (including other Platinum versions) offers up to $100 in Saks credits per calendar year: $50 from January-June and $50 from July-December. Don’t forget to use it. See

Saks often has pretty strong cashback offers, so don’t forget to stack with a shopping portal. For example, Rakuten often offers 10%-20% cashback.

Clear Credit

The AMEX Platinum Card, AMEX Green, and Platinum Business each have a $175 Clear credit per calendar year. You can consider using this credit to pick up some shopping-portal rewards; in practice, you don’t necessarily need to complete in-person verification right away.

LoungeBuddy Credit

The AMEX Green offers a $100 LoungeBuddy credit each calendar year. See

Uber Credit

The AMEX Platinum Card family gets Uber $200 Credit + Uber VIP status each year: add your Platinum card to your Uber account, and your Uber account will become VIP, with access to better ride options and similar perks. At the same time, your Uber account gets $15 in Credit in each of the first 11 months of the year, and $35 in December. The Credit expires at the end of each month. December’s Credit is higher than usual, so make sure you’re ready to use it and don’t let it go to waste. Multiple Platinum cards can be added to the same Uber account so you can stack the Credit.

The AMEX Gold card also added an Uber credit of $10 per month.

Dell Credit

The AMEX Business Platinum added a Dell credit after its refresh. Use this card at Dell.com or in Dell stores, and you can receive up to $400 in credits per year: $200 from January-June and the remaining $200 from July-December. Note that this credit does not roll over; once you use up the first-half credit, it’s gone.

Cell Phone Bill Credit

AMEX Business Platinum also added $120 Wireless: $10 back each month on purchases in the wireless category, up to $120 total per year. Your cell phone bill should trigger it, and you can simply prepay $10 to your account each month. This is a very real, easy-to-use benefit. See: AMEX Wireless Telephone Services credit guide

Other Miscellaneous Credits

These credits may not be very useful for most people, so if you don’t actually need them, don’t force it.

The AMEX Business Platinum also has the following two calendar-year credits:

  • $150 Adobe: Eligible purchases of Creative Cloud for teams and Acrobat Pro DC under Adobe prepaid plans can receive up to $150 in credits. This does not look especially easy to cash out, so it is better suited for small business users who can use it themselves.
  • $360 Indeed: Spend on the Ideed website each quarter and receive up to $90 back, for a total of $360 per year. This also does not look especially easy to cash out, so it is better suited for small business users hiring for their business.

The AMEX Platinum has a $300 Equinox credit and $240 digital entertainment credit. Great if you can use them; if not, don’t force it.

Bonus Earning Categories

High bonus earning rates on credit cards usually come with caps, and those caps are often based on the calendar year. Here are a few commonly used and relatively easy categories to max out:

  • AMEX Gold: 4x at supermarkets, capped at 25,000. Supermarkets often sell third-party gift cards, Amazon, eBay, and Visa gift cards.
  • AMEX Blue Cash Preferred: 6% cash back on the first $6,000 in supermarket purchases
  • AMEX Everyday Preferred: 4.5x MR on the first $6,000 in supermarket purchases

Big-Spend Bonuses

Many cards offer extra bonuses once you hit certain spending thresholds. It’s worth taking a quick look at your spending so far this year and deciding whether it makes sense to make a final push for any large-spend bonus.

  • AMEX Hilton Surpass: Spend $15,000 to earn a free night certificate, which is still pretty worthwhile. Spending $40,000 earns Diamond status, which doesn’t seem very compelling.
  • AMEX Hilton Honors business card: Spend $15,000 to earn a free night certificate (usable on weekdays as well during the pandemic), and $60,000 to earn a second one. Spending $40,000 earns Diamond status, which doesn’t seem very compelling.
  • AMEX Hilton Aspire Spend $60,000 to earn a second free night certificate.
  • AMEX Delta Reserve and AMEX Delta Platinum: spending $30,000 and $60,000 earns extra MQMs and miles, but personally I don’t think it’s all that worthwhile.

Credit Card Q4 5%/5x Cash Back

The fourth quarter is shopping season, so this is another reminder to check each card’s bonus categories and use the right card for the right type of spending.

  • Discover it: Amazon.com and Digital Wallets. Amazon is a familiar favorite, and digital wallets include Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, and Garmin Pay, so this one should be pretty easy. Activation link
  • Chase Freedom (Flex): Walmart and PayPal. Walmart stores sell lots of third-party gift cards, including Visa gift cards, so maxing out the 5x category is pretty easy; PayPal is also widely accepted (activation link; you can also activate after logging into your account)
  • US Bank Cash+: Some of the other categories aren’t very useful if you’re staying home a lot, so cell phone bill is a good choice; electrical stores can also work, and Best Buy sells lots of third-party gift cards.
  • Citi Dividend: Restaurants and travel, though I imagine most people already maxed out the earlier drugstore/supermarket quarterly categories. Citi official activation link

One thing to keep in mind: a) For Discover it and Chase Freedom, only the first $1,500 in spending each quarter earns 5% cash back or 5x points, so plan accordingly and don’t overspend in the bonus category. Citi Dividend, on the other hand, has an annual total cash back cap of $300; if you’ve already maxed that out earlier in the year, there’s no point using it in Q4. c) Discover it, Chase Freedom, and Citi Dividend can all be activated for quarterly 5%/5x rewards through online banking. If you can’t find the button, calling in or using online chat / sending a secure message should also work. d) Cash+ lets you choose your own 5% categories, so it’s best to select categories your other cards don’t cover. If you’re not interested in these rotating bonus categories, you may also want to refer to this article: Credit Card Tips — Category Conversion to earn 5% cash back in other categories.

Hotel Free Night Expiration

In general, hotel Free Night certificates are valid for one year from the date they are issued, so they usually are not tied to the calendar year.

Airline and Hotel Elite Status

Airline and hotel elite status is generally calculated based on calendar-year flight activity and hotel stays to determine your status for the year. If you find that you’re only a little short of reaching a higher tier, it may be worth seeing whether you can make a final push. After all, some elite statuses do come with meaningful benefits.

Other

If there’s anything else expiring at year-end, feel free to leave a comment and remind everyone, so we can help each other avoid missing out.