I am late with this because I was doing all my spending on an Amex Business Platinum card, but now that I am done with it, I will be going by the following plan.
Below is my plan for Q3 2025 using my custom cashback strategy as described in my article: Introducing My 5%+ Custom Cashback Strategy.
I got my Citi Custom Cash back — product changed my Strata to Citi Custom Cash (CCC). So I am really happy about that.
Rotating Categories for Q3 2025.
Discover It Cashback (DICB) is Gas Stations, Public Transit & Utilities
Chase Freedom Flex (CFF) is Gas, EV Charging, Live Entertainment & Insta Cart
My plan with my six custom cashback cards:
| Chase Freedom Flex (CFF) | Gas Stations |
| Discover It Cashback (DICB) | Utilities |
| Citi Custom Cash (CCC) | Groceries |
| Kroger Rewards | 1) Drugstores 2) Fast Food (Will use Amex Gold for Dining this quarter) |
| US Bank Cash+ | Department Stores & Electronic Stores |
| Chase Ink Cash (CIC) | Internet & Phone |
| Catchall / SUB | Synchrony Premier Mastercard (SPM) |
Again, as mentioned in my linked article above, this cashback strategy has been backtested for many years and works well on getting 5% cashback on almost anything. This however isn’t the greatest quarter since Chase and Discover decided to both focus on Gas, but fortunately I still have an Amex Personal Gold card which I’ll use for 4% cashback on dining purchases — I had got it for a sign up bonus back in late 2024.
I am not working on any credit cards SUBs right now so I’ll just use my primary catchall everywhere I can, which is the Synchrony Premier Mastercard (SPM).
I am just carrying two credit cards in my wallet this quarter, the Synchrony Premier Mastercard for my catchall and my Amex Personal Gold (APG) card for Dining purchases.
Biggest thing I am happy about is getting my Citi Custom Cash back this quarter. Next quarter should be better — hopefully there isn’t all this overlap.
My iPhone Wallpaper for Q3 2025:
AP = Apple Pay. WP = Walmart Pay.
I don’t currently have any active Amazon subscriptions, so if I bought something there I’d only get 3% cashback instead of 5% cashback; but this isn’t too much of an issue since we don’t buy a lot from them anymore.
