While plenty of retailers have their own credit cards to earn a percentage back on a purchase or 0% interest for 6 to 12 months (along with astronomical interest rates if you don’t pay it off each month), many third party cards offer expanded options for rewards at your favorite retailers during the holiday shopping season.

Here’s a collection of the top 5 cards you should be looking at before the onslaught of November sales

1. Chase Freedom

During the 2019 holiday shopping season, the Chase Freedom card offers 5% back (up to $75 back on $1,500 in purchases) on department stores, PayPal, and Chase Pay (using your smartphone).

There are 25 retailers on the department stores list; the largest being JC Penney, Kohl’s, Macy’s and Sears. Kohl’s strikes us as particularly good, if you don’t have a Kohl’s card. Specifically because you will be able to get Black Friday prices on popular items, but also 5% cashback and the promotional Kohl’s cash off (which is usually $15 on every $50 you spend).

PayPal also jumps out at us, specifically because of the landslide of eBay deals that pop up in November. Ideally, you should combine that with one of eBay’s promotional periods where they offer a 10% – 15% off coupon.

2. Discover it Cashback

During the 2019 holiday shopping season, the Discover it Cashback card offers 5% back (up to $75 back on $1,500 in purchases) at Amazon.com, Walmart.com and Target.

While Amazon & Target aren’t particularly exciting (both retailers offer 5% cash back cards with no limits), Walmart.com jumps out at us. It’s been particularly difficult to get 5% cashback at Walmart in previous years. Although, Walmart did just partner with Capital One last month to launch a 5% back Walmart Rewards Program.

The 5% discount at Walmart applies to purchases made online (shipped to your home) in addition to purchases made online (ship to store for pickup).

3. Citi Dividend Card

During the 2019 holiday shopping season, the Citi Dividend Card offers 5% back (up to $300 back on $6,000 in purchases) at Best Buy and (currently unnamed) department stores.

While you can definitely get 5% back with a Best Buy card, it’s in rewards that you have to spend at Best Buy, not cashback. Citi’s card could be a better option for someone that’s in the market for a large 4K HDTV on Black Friday, but also wants cashback instead of rewards.

Be aware that the $300 on $6,000 in purchases is specific to the calendar year. If you already earned $200 in rewards using the card during the first 9 months of the year, you would only be able to earn $100 back in the last 3 months.

4. AMEX Blue Cash Preferred Card

During the 2019 holiday shopping season, the American Express Blue Cash Preferred Card offers 6% Cash Back at U.S. supermarkets (up to $360 back on $6,000 in purchases) as well as 6% on streaming subscriptions & 3% on transit.

This card can be particularly useful for anyone that’s hosting huge family gatherings during Thanksgiving / Christmas and needs to drop some serious coin at the supermarket. It’s also good for the entire year (not specific to Q4), thus you can continue to save at the grocery store for 12 months.

The only downside is the $95 annual fee, but that’s easily mitigated with the $250 back on $1000 of purchases for new customers. If you don’t want the annual fee, you can step down to the Blue Cash Everyday card (which offers 3% back at grocery stores, same cap on total purchases).

5. The Best Store Cards

As mentioned earlier, the best store cards are offered by Amazon and Target. Both retailers offer cards that offer 5% cashback without any cap on total purchases for the year. Other benefits include:

• Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card: 5% back on Whole Foods purchases, 2% back at restaurants / gas / drugstores, 1% back on everything else.
• Target RedCard: Free shipping on all Target.com purchases and additional 30 days for returning items.

Other popular Store Cards include:

• Lowe’s Advantage Card: Offers 5% cashback on all purchases. 6 months special financing on $299 or more purchases
• Old Navy Visa Credit Card: Offers a $5 reward for every $100 you spend in an Old Navy / GAP / Banana Republic Store.
• Costco Anywhere Visa Card: Offers 2% back on all Costco purchases, 4% back on gas, 3% back at resturants

Here’s the Top 5 Credit Card Rewards for the 2019 holiday shopping season