Update: DEAD! Don’t miss it if this becomes alive again. Sign up for deal notification alerts here!
Update: Don’t forget to finish your Q4 bonus spending on your Freedom cards and to register for Q1 bonus spending!
Donate to your favorite charity via PayPal Giving Fund and you’ll earn 5 points per dollar and the charity won’t pay any processing fees!
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!
You can register now for 2023 Q1 spending which will be valid 1/1-3/31 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 still can finish Q4 spending through 12/31 at:
- Walmart and Walmart.com, including gift cards sold for other stores, purchases at Walmart Discount Stores, Walmart SuperCenters, Walmart Neighborhood Markets, www.walmart.com, Walmart branded gas stations operated by Walmart, any other Walmart branded retail stores operated by Walmart, and purchases made with Walmart Pay.
- Paypal, including purchases from anyone and charity.
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 Q4 and Q1 purchases?
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40 Comments On "[Final Days To Finish Q4 Spending!] Register Now For Freedom Q1 Bonus Categories; Finish Q4 Category Spending!"
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Bingo doesn’t post as a grocery store anymore.
It did on Chase Freedom last year. When did that change?
I used my Freedom Flex at Bingo on May 8, 22 and it posted Category Groceries. On May 25 I used the same card at Bingo and it posted as Category Shopping.
Bingo is no longer registered as Grocery, they’re registered as Merchandise & inventory,
Is this on both Visa and Mastercard?
When did that change?
I used my visa chase card in march 2022 bingo came up as groceries and in October 2022 it came up as shopping
Thanks for the data point!
I wonder why they changed?
It cost them less, I had a takeout that changed from Restaurant to Grocery and I couldn’t use PUB so I asked them and they said its cheaper for them.
Dan- regarding Bingo I did not get 4x on prem gold card last time I went a month ago.
I called Amex they said Bingo has categorized itself as a “warehouse” and its on their end not amex.
Just wanted to let you know because same issue may happen with freedom 5x.
Thanks as always for the great work!
Every bank has their own categorization, so AMEX’s categories don’t prove anything.
Bingo worked for Freedom Visa/MC bonuses last year. Has anyone shopped there recently on Chase Visa or MC and seen the category? Hopefully we’ll get some data points in early January to know for sure.
Citi Premier Mastercard
Nov 22, 2022
BINGO WHOLESALE BROOKLYN NY
$248.51 249 points
Purchased On
Nov 22, 2022 05:00 PM ET
Spend Category
Merchandise – Wholesale Clubs
I was there recently and used the Freedom Flex and it came up as shopping.
Which location?
How about the regular Freedom Visa?
The Brooklyn location. I’m not sure about the regular freedom. Wouldn’t it categorized the same as they’re both under chase?
Not necessarily.
On Barclay MasterCard, category for March 12 purchase was “WHOLESALE CLUBS”.
Q1 2023 appears to be a wash for those of us in Israel. BOOOOOOOOOOO.
Unless your ordering things in USA, it’s prob never worth it because of the international 3% transaction fee
Sucks that Discover is same category. By the way, why don’t you post the Discover categories each quarter?
Can I get this card bonus if I already got a freedom unlimited bonus a few years ago?
If I buy from target.com and checkout with PayPal, do I get 5% back in Q1?
Does Paypal sending money to family and freinds work for the 5% bonus?
Might be a cash advance?
When googled found this on another website:
Chase says Friends and Family or Person-to-Person (P2P) transactions “may be prohibited or not eligible for 5%.”
Yes it does for now but I believe that chase is changing that for 2023
Changing what? Do you get 5%?
I got a letter in the mail from Chase that starting in 2023 person to person payments such as paypal will count as cash advance…..
dan so bingo is out for goceries?
No idea. Try it in January and let us know.
@Dan, does the transaction need to post before January 1st or I just need to make the purchase before 11:59pm on the 31st? some transactions such as PayPal may take a few days to post on the card etc. Thanks
Purchase before jan 1st
I once saw a post hos to pay insurance and utility bills with a cc via PayPal.
Anyone with a link?
Go to bill pay in PayPal
https://www.paypal.com/myaccount/payments/?link_name=pay_your_bills
Can geico be paid via paypal?
Yes and you’ll also save on the 4dollar credit card fee
There’s no fee AFAIK
Can I get a walmart gc on walmart.com to get my fullest 5% Bonus or does it have to be to another store?
Will spending tonight on the q4 categories trigger the x5, or will it only post later and won’t trigger? Anyone have experience?
Do you see that this card has free cell phone insurance? Am I reading right?