Update: Offer expired!
Today is the final day to activate Chase Freedom Q4 5% categories.
Q4 spending is valid from 10/1-12/31 for:
- Department stores. These include stores like Bloomingdale’s, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Kohl’s, Lord & Taylor, Macys, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Nordstrom Rack, Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks Off 5th, Sears.
- Wholesale Clubs. These include stores like Costco, BJs, and Sams Club. In past years, Brooklyn’s Bingo Wholesale has also worked for this category.
- Purchases made with Chase Pay or Samsung Pay via Chase Pay. You can use Chase Pay at stores like Best Buy, Cinemark, eBags, Parkmobile, Shell, ShopRite, Walmart.com, and more.
- You can also link Samsung Pay to Chase Pay and use your phone to pay in nearly every store while earning 5 points per dollar.
- You can also buy gift cards at any of these stores above to lock in savings!
Tomorrow, you’ll be able to register for 2019 Q1 spending which will be valid 1/1-3/31 at:
- Gas stations: This includes most 7-Eleven stores and gas stations that sell gift cards for other stores as well. You can lookup how a store is categorized here.
- Drug Stores: This includes everything from prescriptions to gift cards for other stores bought from stores like CVS and Walgreens.
- Tolls: Including tolls paid to attendants or via EZ-Pass prepaid or postpaid payments.
Chase Freedom is an excellent no annual fee card thanks to its quarterly 5% categories. While they call it 5% cash back, you’ll really get 5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent which can be worth much more than 5% cash. For $1,500 in spending per quarter you will earn at least 30,000 Ultimate Rewards points over the course of a year (7,500 points per quarter at 5 points per dollar spent).
While Chase Freedom is a great card for the bonus categories, it’s not a great card for everyday spending. However the Chase Freedom Unlimited® card also has no annual fee and is excellent for everyday spending thanks to 50% bonus points earned everywhere.
Freedom or Freedom Unlimited alone can’t transfer points into much more lucrative airline or hotel miles, but if you or your spouse has a Sapphire Reserve, Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card,or Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card card then you can transfer points from Freedom to one of those cards and from there to your favorite travel currency. The Freedom or Freedom Unlimited card can also keep your points alive for free if you do close one of those premium cards.
The value of the points will be based on where you use them, but if you use those points for a trip worth where they are worth 2 cents each then you’ll have effectively earned 10% back on those “5 point categories.” The sky is the limit of the value of airline miles as they aren’t tied to the cost of a ticket. That’s good for people in the know and bad for those who are not. 1 mile can be worth 0.25 cents or it can be worth 25 cents, it all just depends on how you use them!
Where will you make your Q1 purchases?
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6 Comments On "Last Day To Register For Chase Freedom Q4 Spending; Excellent Freedom Q1 Bonus Categories Announced"
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How do I squeeze $1,500 out of these categories? Hate tying up money in store specific cards. My luck they’ll file chapter 11 before I ever get to use them.
Buy amazon or visa gift cards
There’s a fee for Visa Gift Cards this isn’t the rare sale at Staples, where I would happily stock up.
And Amazon is store specific. Even If I admit that Amazon won’t go belly up, I’m still tying up my money in Amazon, a place I probably won’t buy even $1,500 worth of stuff in 5 years. To earn $75.00 now and tie up my money for that long, doesn’t pay from an accounting perspective.
Does Ezpass let you prepay?
I think you can increase your refresh amount. Not sure they’ll let you go to $1,500 though!
yes