Update: DEAD! Don’t miss it if this becomes alive again. Sign up for deal notification alerts here!
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). My wife and I have 8 Freedom cards, which makes it all the more lucrative!
You can register now and start spending on the Chase Freedom Q1 5% categories which will be valid 1/1-/31 at:
- Grocery stores. This includes large grocery chains and small local grocery stores. These stores sell gift cards to lock in future savings, and gift cards to other stores as well.
- Target and Target.com
- Fitness Clubs & Gym Memberships.
You can check your current 5% earnings here by clicking on “Your Dashboard.”
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 the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal. Read more about the Freedom Flex card here.
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 points per dollar on up to $20,000 of 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 Card, which offers $900 in the form of 90,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after spending $6,000 within 3 months plus 1.5 points per dollar spent. Read more about the Ink Unlimited card here.
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, 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 or other select consumer categories and business categories 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 Q1 purchases?
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25 Comments On "Chase Freedom’s Q1 5x Bonus Categories Are Live"
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Does anyone know if BINGO in lakewood is categorized as a grocery store?
I used my AMEX on the Bingo in Brooklyn and it did NOT classify as a grocery store.
My AMEX Blue Cash Preferred classifies it as a grocery store, but doesn’t give the 6% rate of a grocery store.
Bingo in Monsey also not categorized as a grocery store- it used to be but they probably made them change it.
Can someone please try using the Freedom Visa at Bingo and see if it earns this bonus?
+1 we need someone to try with a chase freedom visa
If you sign up for flex right now and get 5% on groceries for the year does that stack with 5% categorie this q
think so
It does, but each one is a 4% bump on the base 1%, so you would get 9% on groceries.
Does it work for grocery stores outside the US? I understand that there is a foreign transaction fee.
Based on my limited experience (from years ago), it should. You’ll get hit with the 3% fee but you’ll earn 5 points per dollar (not sure if that’s calculated before or after the 3% fee is assessed).
Discover also has 5% on groceries this quarter with no foreign transaction fee.
Bingo in Lakewood classifies as wholesale club with visa
BINGO in Lakewood is categorized as a grocery store with visa
sorry I meant as wholesale clubs with visa
will someone please stand up and state the truth!
If you have a registered Freedom Visa and shop at Bingo, please email me a screenshot of the charge and points awarded 🙂
I have a Freedom Unlimited and it’s categorized as wholesale clubs.
What’s your email?
i have the freedom visa, i shop at bingo Brooklyn and did not earn the 5X bonus
I really apologize but the truth is that I used a united gateway card at Bingo Lakewood this past December and it posted as Merchant type Wholesale clubs
ouch
In Q4, my Dashboard didn’t update. Even more than a week after the purchases. I checked my 5X spending by checking in my account that I got 5x on the appropriate purchases.
Mine did not update in the final 2 weeks or so.
Dan, side question, I learned today that MoneyGram won’t allow me to use corporate credit card – i.e. Chase Ink – to pay for my car lease.
Obviously I’m trying to work towards the spending threshold.
Is there a system to which merchants/services don’t allow corporate cards?
Oh, good, an incentive to not save my Pesach shopping for the last minute.