Chase Freedom Flex and Freedom are excellent no annual fee cards thanks to their quarterly 5% categories. While the rewards are marketed as 5% cash back, you’ll actually get 5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent which can be worth much more than 5% cash.
If you max out the $1,500 in bonus 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) per Freedom card.
Today is the final day to activate Chase Freedom Q4 5% categories. If you activate today you will retroactively receive 5 points per dollar for all bonus spending since the beginning of this quarter!
Q4 spending is valid on $1,500 of spending from 10/1-12/31 for:
- Paypal, including purchases from anyone and charity donations made via Paypal. This also includes paying utility bills via Paypal and Paypal Giving Fund donations to any charity with no processing fees!
- Pet Shops and Vet Services
- McDonald’s
- Select Charities
You can track your Freedom bonus spending here.
Starting tomorrow, you can register for Q1 spending, which will be valid on $1,500 of spending from 1/1-3/31 for:
- Grocery Stores (excluding Walmart and Target)
- Fitness Clubs & Gym Memberships
- Hair, Nails & Spa Services
- Norwegian Cruise Lines
You can currently earn a $200 signup bonus in the form of 20,000 Ultimate Rewards points for spending $500 on the Freedom Flex Mastercard. Plus you’ll earn 3 points per dollar on drugstore and dining purchases and 5 points per dollar on all Travel purchased through Chase Travel.
While Chase Freedom Flex 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 earns 3-6.5 points per dollar on up to $20K in spending during your first 12 months. Plus it’s excellent for everyday spending thanks to 1.5 points per dollar that can be earned everywhere with no limit, though it doesn’t have rotating 5x categories. Read more about the Freedom Unlimited card here.
The no annual fee business version of Freedom Unlimited is the Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card, which currently has an excellent limited-time offer.
Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, and Ink Unlimited alone can’t transfer points into much more lucrative airline or hotel miles, but if you or your spouse has an Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve®, or Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, then you can transfer points from Freedom to one of those cards and from there to your favorite travel currency. Those cards also allow you to redeem your points for paid travel at a value of 1.25 or 1.5 cents per point. The Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, or Ink 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 Q4 and Q1 purchases?
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