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 now have 8 Freedom cards, which makes it all the more lucrative!
Today is the final day to activate Chase Freedom Q2 5% categories. If you activate today you will retroactively receive 5 points per dollar for all bonus spending since the beginning of this quarter!
Q2 spending is valid on $1,500 of spending from 4/1-6/30 for:
- Select streaming services, including Disney+, Netflix, Hulu, Sling, Vudu, Fubo TV, Apple Music, SiriusXM, Pandora, Spotify, YouTube TV, and ESPN+.
- Amazon.com, including Amazon account reloads and gift cards sold by Amazon for hundreds of other stores.
Tomorrow, you’ll be able to register for 2022 Q3 spending which will be valid 7/1-9/30 for:
- Gas stations
- This includes most 7-Eleven stores and gas stations that sell gift cards for other stores as well. My local GetGo gas stations earn sweet rewards on gift card purchases, making this quarter even more lucrative.
- Rental Car Agencies
- Note that Freedom cards do not have primary rental car CDW coverage like Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Sapphire Reserve card. However you can rent with a card that has primary coverage and then switch to a Freedom card after the rental is complete.
- Select Live Entertainment
- This is a new Freedom category. More details will be announced tomorrow.
- Movie Theaters
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 $750 in the form of 75,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after spending $7,500 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 Q2 and Q3 purchases?
Leave a Reply
25 Comments On "Final Day To Register For Chase Freedom Q2 Spending, New Q3 Bonus Categories Announced!"
All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.
Well at the rate we’re going we won’t have to buy gift cards at gas stations for next quarter, we can just buy gas for 3 months, should add up to $1500…
Would appreciate if you would announce Discover categories as well
Discover announces the whole year ahead of time. Next quarter is restaurants and PayPal.
This quarter was a dud considering that I have the amazon card already, gas stations are definitely a better category
5 Chase points are far more valuable than 5% back on an Amazon card.
A. Not too much to me
B. Would rather the cash back now then the points value whenever I sell/use my miles next
You can always cash out Chase points for 1 cent each.
This just adds versatility to transfer them to miles or use them for paid travel or PYB.
No brainer to earn 5x Chase over 5% back.
The ink used to argue about it is more worth than the difference
How so?
I can use 6K AC miles to fly on a $400 United flight tomorrow.
The ability to cash that out for $60 or to use it for a more valuable flight is a no-brainer vs just taking $60 without versatility.
Although since it’s a MC can’t use for Costco gas.
You can convert to a Freedom Visa.
Dan are you saying you can have a freedom flex visa? I though FF was MC while freedom unlimited was visa?
covert what to a freedom visa?
They still have regular Freedom visa as a card change??
Smart categories! They literally nailed it!
@Dan
how do i “switch to a Freedom card after the rental is complete”
TIA
after the rental ask to pay with another cc most legit rental companies are okay with that. some of the low cost ones might give you a hard time
Just change the method of payment
Is PYB still worth anything after this month? looks like all the good options on my sapphire reserve end in a few days…
Ok thank for the info Dave and rental.
I usually just hand the car off….
the extra time on a $300 rental say to to get 15-20 in value might be worth it…..
….pressed post by accident.
its not really 15-20 in marginal value as I am already getting 2% on the ventureX.
so not sure if it is worth my time but still a cool trick
@Dan- I know Chase counts GetGo as gas like you mentioned, while AMEX doesn’t count it. Any idea about Discover? They have gas as a category in Q2, I’d love to max that out with VGC at GetGo…
What are the details of the new category “Select live entertainment”? what does that mean?
i called chase and asked them- if i got an opening bonus within a year for the freedom unlimited, am i eligible for an opening bonus for the freedom flex? they told me i have to wait 48 months to be eligible for another freedom bonus.
is this true information?
Nope, fake news.